The Bones of You
by Li'l Yahiko
Summary: In the ten years since Spike's demise, Faye was beginning to feel dissatisfied and lonely. Suddenly, a reckless young boy falls into her life with a lot of Spike in him, wanting her to train him to be a great bounty hunter. mostly onesided FayeSpike
1. Forget Myself

**The Bones of You**

(Disclaimer: Cowboy Bebop and all related characters are property of its respective owners.)

One: Forget Myself

_No I won't forget you, but I'll forget myself_

_If the city will forgive me_

- Elbow

Over ten years. She had never expected that after ten years she would still be doing this. She thought she would have done something new with herself by this point, been some hot young thing for a sugar daddy or winning a lot of money at the horse races or… something. Anything other than this. Anything other than still bounty hunting for chump change and spending her nights rolling on her uncomfortable bed in the Bebop and listening to Jet complain about her spending and her gluttony.

Faye exhaled a large puff of cigarette smoke, eyeing herself in the reflection of the store window. She was beginning to look old even through all the makeup she now wore, she thought, though Jet claimed her faint wrinkles could only be seen by her. Her revealing, yellow outfit had long since been worn out and abandoned, replaced now with a tiny, dark, low-cut shirt barely covered up by her red blouse that was faded and beginning to look a little more pink, a pair of black stretch pants and shining leather stiletto boots, and a gun holster tied to her hip. Her cute bob hair had grown down her back and made into a much less cute but much more manageable ponytail. Her yellow headband still held back the stray hairs from her bangs, but the rest of her hair was tight against her head before spilling out behind her.

She took another long drag on her cigarette, displeased. At this rate, she'd be gray-haired and ancient before her bounty hunting career ended… That is, if she didn't die of starvation on a particularly bad month (which they had had quite a lot of lately)… or boredom.

Her COM buzzed, startling her out of her stupor. She grabbed it harshly, it taking the brunt of her frustration and yelled into the receiver, "WHAT."

"Faye, for God's sakes," Jet grumbled right back, as bitter in his age as she was in hers, "Have you picked up the trail yet?"

They had been tracking down a Louis King Jr. for a good two days now. He'd held up a few liquor stores and evaded taxes, which wasn't much, but he had killed a rich young woman during his last robbery, and his bounty price had been raised to 2 million Woolongs. At the moment, he'd managed to get out of her sights long enough to lose his trail for about the fifth time, and Jet was losing his patience and his temper.

"No, I haven't found him yet. Why don't you get your ass out here and find him yourself? I'm tired of running circles around this godforsaken planet."

They'd been on Mars for a week and a half because the Bebop didn't have enough fuel to go far enough to make a difference.

Jet growled on the other end of the line. "You were the one who wanted to go after him. You were the one who saw him every time. You were the one who bolted off after him without so much as an 'I see him, Jet!' and you're getting sore at me for it?"

Faye stuck out her bottom lip. Jet was an expert at being irritable. It was a battle she just couldn't win, at least not today. "Well, _fine_, Jet. I'll just keep looking, and when I catch him, I'll keep all of the money for myself. I'll buy fuel for my Red Tail, a bunch of food and clothes, and you'll never see me again! You'll have to capture all of your bounties all by your lonesome self."

It was an empty threat she'd made a million times. She'd never quite broken the habit of running when she had the guts and returning defeated a short time later. It was one of the most painful realizations that plagued her, being in her thirties and unable to fend for herself. Jet tolerated her antics a lot better than most people. He really was an all-around good guy.

Faye sighed, giving up. She was raising her head to apologize to him when suddenly…

There he was. Fate had given her a winning hand for once because THERE HE WAS.

"I've spotted him," she mumbled and shut off the COM before Jet could respond.

King was an average man in every way: average looks, average height, average build, and probably an average intelligence. He was staring at a few sweets in a bakery's front window, scratching the spot on his neck where his dirty-blonde hair met skin. Faye had been chasing him so relentlessly that he had probably had no time to eat (she hadn't had the time either, though she couldn't afford it anyway), and now he'd allowed himself a fatal distraction in the form of cupcakes. Not that looking at them wasn't tempting, but Faye had long since grown used to being hungry.

She approached slowly, quietly, ready to make an ambush of him. All she had to do was conk him on the back of the head with the butt of her gun, and then she could drag him back to the Bebop and from there to the police station. He wasn't an overweight man, so she knew that she wouldn't have much of a problem and…

"A-HA! I found you!" A voice squealed. It caught both bounty and bounty hunter off-guard. Before them was a stick of a boy with a mop of blonde hair on his head, hanging over one of his brown eyes. He was dressed in all black, and his pants were too short, and his toothpick arms were hanging out from the deep loops of his oversized tank top, holding a Jericho 941 out at King.

"Who are you?" King asked, apparently so used to having a gun pointed at him that he was no longer phased by it. He seemed annoyed that some skinny teenager had the balls to face him.

"My name's Maxwell, and you're Louis King Jr." The boy's face broke out into a grin, revealing that he was missing his right canine. "You've got a sweet bounty on your head, and I'm gonna get it."

Faye's face heated up with anger. After days and days of searching, she'd finally found her bounty, only for some stupid kid to come and try and take it right out from under her nose?

"Hey, kid, get lost!" Faye shouted, waving her own Glock 30 at him. Unfortunately, her outcry had allowed King to realize that she was there, and with a shout he was racing out of both of their sights.

"Hey!" Faye hissed. She turned to glare at the boy only to find that he was forcing his way through the crowd in hot pursuit, tumbling over his long legs and big feet the whole way. This only managed to make her angrier, and she took off after the both of them. "That brat, that little brat!" She seethed through her teeth, shoving people this way and that way. "Who does he think he is?" She spotted King, closely followed by the blonde, ducking into an alley.

"Stop or I'll shoot!" the boy cried, cocking the gun.

"Don't shoot him, you idiot!" Faye shouted, whacking him on the back of the head with her gun. She hit him harder than she intended, sending him collapsing to the ground unconscious. She didn't have time to check on him though, since King was clambering up the fire escape at an alarming speed. Faye fired once at the steps, collapsing the one he was just stepping onto. His leg hung from the hole as the broken step clattered to the ground below.

King struggled to get up, but Faye aimed her pistol. "Give up. I've got you now."

"Hey, look out!"

She turned just in time for someone to box her in the ear, sending her crumpling to the ground. She glanced up to see who her attacker could have been just in time to see none other than that blonde stick boy tackling the assailant with his stringy arms around his shoulders. Faye looked back at the fire escape long enough to see that King had disappeared and this man, a dark-skinned man with dreadlocks and sunglasses and the build of a linebacker, must have been his partner.

The man backed up, slamming the boy against the wall, forcing him to let go, but Faye jumped on him and used the rage she was feeling over the fact that King had gotten away once _again _to slam him on the ground with his hands behind his back. "You bastard! Do you know how long I've been chasing that idiot? IN HEELS?"

The man stammered and sputtered, obviously stunned that he could be taken down by a little woman like her. Apparently he'd never heard of Faye Valentine.

Sirens were wailing in the distance. The blonde was looking around stunned, as if wondering how the police could have known they were there. Honestly, who reported two gun-waving possible lunatics? Faye rolled her eyes and yanked her COM out of the pocket inside her red shirt.

"Jet, it's Faye," she said, digging the heel of her boot into the man's back. "King got away, but I have one of his guys here…." She stomped on the man's back. "What's your name?"

"J… Jordan Holmes," the man groaned, eyeing the blonde boy and his gun.

"Look up this Jordan Holmes guy. How much is he worth?"

It took Jet only a few minutes to find him. "About 800 thousand Woolongs."

"Better than nothing," Faye smirked, satisfied that at least something had gone right. "We'll get King too." She stomped on the man again. "Where's King going?"

"I… I don't know."

"Really?" she asked, turning her foot left to right, digging in deeper. Considering the guy was so large, he was kind of a wuss, she thought.

"Y… Yeah, I don't know! He… He likes to hang out in the bars in the slums! He just hired me to be his bodyguard! It was good money! I didn't know him or anything!"

"Then why is there a bounty on your head?" she asked.

He glanced up at her, eyes wide, and she saw the veins in his sclera. He was a red eye user. She figured that he had been a dealer who got a little too caught up in his own product. No wonder he was in need of money.

The sirens were closer now.

The blonde stayed sitting on the ground where he was, arms hanging over his knees, Jericho pointed at the man in such a casual way that an inexperienced person wouldn't have noticed. "So," he said, face a light with his grin. "How much of a cut am I gonna get from this?"

Faye cocked an eyebrow at him. "Are you kidding me? I caught him. You're not getting anything!"

His smile faded. "What? But he would have killed you if I hadn't told you he was there. You wouldn't have caught him if it weren't for me!"

Faye glared at him, and he glared right back at her. She didn't want to admit that he had a point, and he'd gotten nothing but a headache from her for it. However…

"Yeah, well, I would have actually caught King if you hadn't gone and run your big mouth!" she retorted. "He's worth a lot more than this guy, you know!"

"Well, I… uh…" he stammered. "Well, um… you still wouldn't have caught him if it weren't for me."

"Weak argument, brat."

"Well, hey, I'm new to this whole bounty hunting thing! I didn't know! And anyway, how was I supposed to know that you were a bounty hunter?"

It was another good point, but she was determined to hold her ground. "It doesn't matter. You're not supposed to just go blindly running into things. It's a stupid move, even for a beginner."

"Well, I'm not well educated, sorry," the boy spat back, pouting.

Faye opened her mouth to retort but paused. "Wait… what? Why am I even arguing with some stupid sixteen year old nobody?"

"Wha-? I'm not sixteen," the boy replied, voice losing its bite. "I'm only fourteen."

"What?"

Holmes had been dragged off, and Faye had received her payment, only to walk outside and find the blonde boy lounging against the wall, waiting for her. There was a duffel bag at his feet.

She glared at him. "You're not getting any of this, kid. Get lost."

"My name is Maxwell," he replied, pulling his body away from the wall while picking up the bag, "and with the things I've seen in my life, I can guarantee that I'm no kid."

"You're still a kid to me," she responded, rolling her eyes. "Your fourteen. You don't know anything about the real world. That's why you shouldn't be trying to hunt bounty heads."

He picked up his pace to catch up with her. "Well, maybe you could teach me how to be a good bounty hunter."

"Don't waste your breath."

"Oh, come on, I'll be a great student, I promise! I know how to shoot a gun, and I practiced martial arts before I left the orphanage, and-"

"You're an orphan?" she asked, turning to look him in the eyes. After discovering that her family was long gone and realized she'd had no one in the entire world, and on top of that Spike…

"Yeah," he said, "ever since I was born. So?"

"I just… I'm sorry. That must have been awful." Maybe her age was starting to catch up with her. She feared she was becoming more sympathetic than she would have liked.

"Not really," he shrugged. "I had a place to live and food and stuff, but it wasn't very exciting. I want to be a bounty hunter. I want to make a lot of money so I can buy a racer and travel all over the universe."

"And you think you can do that bounty hunting?" She asked flatly, remembering how empty Jet's and her pockets always seemed to be. She'd been in the slump so long that she'd forgotten that some people could actually be successful in the work.

He shrugged again, so carefree that she could hardly believe it. "I don't know. Maybe if I had an excellent teacher?"

"Why should I help you with your dreams? I had to give up on mine a long time ago," She tried to sound annoyed, but there was an old listlessness in her voice. It irked her that her age was constantly revealing itself to her all the time. Way back when, she'd always thought she'd never be old in her thirties.

"Well…" He paused, as if trying to think of some kind of answer. "Never mind then." He turned away, a lopsided grin on his face, and as his profile drifted by her eyes, she felt her heart ache with the realization that his smile reminded her of Spike.

"I'll help you," She said, not even thinking about it. She feared she'd live to regret it, but the spark in his eyes was proof enough that she couldn't go back on it now.

"Really?" Maxwell exclaimed, grin spreading wide on his face. "Thanks! Thanks so much!"

Jet greeted Faye with a grunt when she came in, only looking up when he noticed another head ducking in the doorway.

"Hey, this your boyfriend or something?" Maxwell asked, descending the steps.

"Not a chance," Faye smirked, getting another grunt from Jet. She wasn't sure if he was offended with the idea of being her boyfriend or that she rendered the idea impossible.

"Who're you?" Jet asked as the boy plopped down on the mustard colored couch, stretching out like a cat.

"The name's Max. I'm a bounty hunter-in-training."

Jet looked at Faye, back at Max, and back at Faye. "Care to explain, Faye?" He asked, annoyed.

"He helped me get Holmes, so I told him I'd train him to be a competent bounty hunter."

Jet gave her an extremely skeptical stare before deciding he was mad about the entire situation. "The last thing I need is more freeloaders on this ship."

"Says the man who didn't even pursue King," Faye retorted.

"We wouldn't have had to go after King if you hadn't blown the last of our money at the horse races!" Jet shouted back, a vein starting to throb in his neck.

"I was trying to help!"

"Gambling doesn't help anyone, Faye!"

Maxwell watched them through half-lidded eyes, semi-interested. They obviously had lived together for a long time; they squabbled like an old married couple. Either way, the argument was taking them both nowhere fast, so he decided to interrupt.

"Man," He sighed, sitting up, "it sure is nice to see real human connection."

They both stared at him blankly, as if they didn't know what to say in response to him.

"If you don't want me to stay," Max continued with his eyes on Jet, fishing a pack of cigarettes from his duffel bag, "that's fine. I sure would like to have a place to sleep at least for the night though." He dug a lighter out of his pocket and lit the end of the cigarette.

It was as if the boy had known Jet the moment he laid eyes on him. Faye couldn't believe it, but right away he'd been able to see Jet's bleeding puppy dog heart underneath the gruff exterior. Either that, or maybe Jet saw what she'd seen in Max… nothing special, really, but definitely something… Spike-ish. Sitting there with his long legs folded across the table and a cig dangling from his smile, eyes closed, he looked more like him than ever.

"Well…" Jet grumbled. "You can stay here tonight, that's fine… and if you can prove that you're not a slacker like Faye, then maybe I'll let you stay longer. Maybe."

The boy opened one eye. "Thanks, Jet."

He even kind of sounded like him… if Spike had been a squeaky-voiced teenager. She was beginning to feel that she was just getting a little too nostalgic.

Jet took a seat opposite the boy. "So, Max, right? How old are you? How long have you been bounty hunting for?… Any criminal record I should know about?"

"What are you, a cop?" Max chuckled. "Yeah, it's Max, and I'm 14, and I don't have any criminal record, at least not one that's been written down."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jet complained, paused, registered the entire sentence, and snatched the cigarette out of the boy's mouth. "You shouldn't be smoking these if you're only fourteen!"

The kid's face lit up with a large smirk. "Or what? It'll stunt my growth?" He gestured to his long, lanky limbs.

Faye snickered.

"Children… both of you," Jet said flatly. "At least he has an excuse, Faye."

"So, do you guys have a shower or something? I could really use a bath," Max questioned, getting a point from both Bebop members.

"Down the hall, to the left," they said.

"Thanks," He responded and disappeared from their view within a minute.

As soon as he was gone, Jet turned his eyes on Faye who had taken the boy's cigarette from him and started smoking it herself. "Who is he?"

"Hell if I know. All I know is that he's an orphan who wants to be a bounty hunter so he can buy a mono-racer. Kids just don't want to work in gas stations or restaurants anymore. Not exciting enough I guess."

"He's way taller than any fourteen year old I've met."

"Last I checked, the last kid you've come into contact with was a thirteen year old named Ed," Faye responded, replacing the boy's spot on the couch.

"Why help him?"

"I told you, he's an orphan. Maybe I felt a little sympathy for him. I do have a soul, after all, Jet."

"Could've fooled me."

"Yeah, whatever, Jet. Seriously though."

"Yeah, seriously. You didn't feel sympathy for him. It was something else, wasn't it?"

Faye blew smoke into the air, tracing pictures in it with her eyes. "So, you saw him too, huh?"

"What?"

She turned her eyes on him.

"Spike."


	2. One of These Days

Two: One of These Days

_What if I wait around forever?_

_Would it come back around here for me?_

_Or would I waste whatever's left of this life_

_Wishing for things I think I need?_

_- Gavin Mikhail_

Faye had slept so hard that night that by the time she had awoke, she'd nearly forgotten Maxwell all together. She was still a bit hazy from her dreams about silver hammers and Kings and crazy little girls named Ed. When she dragged herself into the main room, she discovered the boy on the couch, out cold. He was squeaky clean and had used Jet's deodorant and even a sprit of her perfume. Apparently he hadn't bathed in awhile and was quite grateful.

Considering the water heater had been broken for three months, he didn't seem to mind that the shower was freezing cold.

Faye yawned and stretched, crossing to the refrigerator and pulling a bowl of leftover bell peppers and beef (minus the beef) from within. She'd go buy food later today while Jet was fueling up. She popped the lid off and dug into the bowl with a pair of chopsticks. They weren't very good cold, but she'd grown quite used to the taste.

Sitting there, watching the boy while she ate, she took in his facial features. He wasn't terribly attractive or terribly ugly… his nose was a bit large for his face, and the skin across his nose and cheeks was slightly reddened from boyish acne. He'd washed his hair with too much conditioner, or maybe just too many times, because it hung a bit greasy over his face. His hands and feet were too big for his skinny limbs. He had long fingers, like that of a piano player, and even a long bath didn't get all the dirt out from under his nails. There were pale scars on his arms and the visible part of his chest, and a faint bruise on his neck in the shape of hands, as if he had been strangled not too terribly long ago. The boy kept his gun in the front of his pants.

He stirred while she observed, sitting up and yawning, arms stretching high over his head. His teeth were slightly yellowed from prolonged tobacco use. She wondered how long he'd smoked for and if Jet had been the first person to stop him from doing so.

Rubbing one eye, he looked at Faye and waved. "Yo."

She jumped, thinking that she'd slipped back into her memories for a moment. "Hey. Sleep well?"

"Awesome," He replied, standing and rolling his shoulders. "You?"

She shrugged. "So, did Jet come bother you to get up and make yourself useful yet?"

The boy laughed, looking through the fridge. "Yeah, kind of. He was grunting and grumbling as if that was gonna wake me up. I've got to tell you though, I was way too tired to be snapped out of it. I think that's the first full night sleep I've gotten in over a week."

"What kind of life have you been involved in? Jeez, even I never had that kind of trouble… well, not really."

"Yeah, but you're a pretty girl," Max replied, turning around and shutting the door with his foot when he realized it was empty. "You can seduce yourself into getting whatever you want if you find the right guy, right? I could never do that." He returned to his spot on the couch.

Faye rolled her eyes. "I may have been able to do something like that back in my prime, but it rarely ever led to the best results. If a man can be seduced, then he's not to be trusted."

"Any man can be seduced."

"Exactly," Faye replied, crossing her legs. She watched the boy eye them as she did so, apparently hungry for a little more than food. She always did feel she had great legs.

"Can you seduce Jet?" He asked.

"I could if I wanted to, but Jet doesn't have anything I want… You know, that I don't already have."

"It is a little weird then, isn't it?" He leaned forward, elbows on his knees. "I mean, you and Jet are the only ones on this ship, and I can tell you've been together for a long time. You guys never fooled around or anything?"

"Jet and I know each other too well to be interested in that kind of thing," She replied, pulling a cigarette from the pack on the table. "We would rather sit around and sulk about how miserable our lives are rather than screw around in the hopes of finding something. We both know there's nothing for us to get from it other than awkwardness and arguments. I think… we'd ruin something that way."

"I bet he doesn't feel that way," Max laughed, tossing her his lighter. "All men can be seduced, after all. So you never once thought about it?"

"Jet's not my type."

"You like young, rich guys?"

"I wouldn't complain," She shrugged again, "but from what I've discovered, I fall for men that I shouldn't have… and in one case, one I couldn't have."

Realizing she'd said too much, she swallowed and lit her cigarette.

"I bet the same kind of men are attracted to you too, huh?" Max grinned.

She was thankful that he didn't ask. "You don't know the half of it, kid. The whole universe is filled with nothing but users and abusers. They will take you for all you can get and leave you hanging out to dry when it's over with. The first rule of bounty hunting training is 'Don't Trust Anyone,' you got that?"

"Got it."

It was at this moment that Jet entered with a sigh. "What are you two sitting around for? We've got work to do!"

"Like what?" Max asked, seeming to be genuinely curious.

"Shopping, cleaning, cooking, fueling up all the ships!" He named off, counting on the fingers of his robotic arm.

"All the ships?" Max asked. "I thought there was only this one."

"Well," Jet hesitated, realizing what he'd said, "there are mono-racers in the hangar."

"Really? That's so cool!" He leaped over the couch to immediately go see, but Jet caught him by the back of his shirt.

"That place is off limits to a wet-behind-the-ears beginner like yourself. If you're going to stay on my ship, you're going to follow that rule and all the others."

"Man, you really do sound like a cop."

Jet released him, causing him to stumble a little. "You need to understand that this isn't a game, kid. You've joined up with us, and you're going to do what we say."

"Yes, sir, but what if Faye tells me something different than you do?"

"Then do what I say."

"Hey!" Faye complained, marching up the steps.

"We only have enough money for a couple of days of groceries if we plan to fuel up, so be thrifty, Faye, and go get them."

"I'll go too," Max offered.

"Fine then."

"Hey, what's the big deal, Jet? I'm supposed to go grocery shopping and baby-sit? I'm not your wife."

"You brought him on, so he's your responsibility."

"But he does what you say."

"Exactly."

Faye pouted.

Maxwell had dug an army green jacket from his bag and yanked it on. It had an old, musty smell to it. "Don't worry, Faye. I won't cramp your style or anything. I'll be so good that you won't even know I'm there. You can just give me bounty hunting pointers."

"Yeah, I totally say those to myself all the time," Faye droned, glaring at Jet. "Anything in particular you want me to pick up, Mr. Boss Man?"

Jet shoved a list into her finely manicured hands. "If you can't afford all of it, figure out what we need more."

She grumbled and disappeared through the exit, Max following like the lost puppy he sort of was.

Jet leaned up against the side of his Hammerhead while he allowed the tank to fill. He humored himself at the fact that over the years he'd picked up a bad habit of smoking while pumping gas. It was something he'd scolded Spike for doing at least a dozen times.

"If he was here with me, I wouldn't hear the end of it," Jet said quietly to himself. Of course, he wasn't there, so there was no way he could have known. It was a disappointing thought.

The first few months after that day had been pretty rough. Neither Jet nor Faye felt like hunting and only did so when they were completely broke. There were days when they went without food, sometimes several in a row. Jet pawned quite a few of his weapons and tools just to keep them alive. He returned to hunting after a few weeks, true, but Faye… no, she didn't recover quite so quickly. She was in denial for the first few hours, claiming that they'd have to go scrape him off the pavement and patch him up like they always did. It was hard to watch when they came across his body. Not only was Spike's corpse permanently etched painfully into Jet's memory, but perhaps more painfully was Faye's expression when they discovered it.

She had screamed at him then, kicking him hard in the ribs. "Get up, you fucker! Get up!" Her voice had reached a high-pitched desperation he had never heard from her, and he couldn't pretend not to know why. Spike and Faye had had a connection that Jet could never fully understand or obtain. He and Faye were never as close as she and Spike, even if they all argued all the time. They'd paired off pretty quickly into Spike and Faye, Jet and Ed, or Spike and Jet, Faye and Ed. It was never Faye and Jet.

He understood her screaming. The poor thing. Without her family, without Ed, Spike was all she had left to hang onto.

She stood there screaming and crying, fists clenched so tightly that she drew blood with her nails and caused her knuckles to go white. It took her a good twenty minutes to calm down enough for Jet to drag her away.

Spike was buried in an unmarked grave because they couldn't afford a tombstone. If they'd known what had become of Julia, perhaps they would have buried them together, but there was no way for them to know. The only ones there were the two of them and Doohan who made no effort to look upset but offered to repair anything wrong with their ships free of charge. Jet remembered thinking how he felt Spike deserved a much bigger ceremony, but he was just being sentimental in the end. Ninety-nine percent of the people Spike met in his life were adversaries or in jail or dead (or a mixture).

Faye had walked away, saying nothing, and Jet was left alone at the grave for a long moment of time.

He remembered it vividly, as if he was reenacting it at that exact moment.

Jet stood there before that plot of ground, staring at the dirt that his friend was hidden deep under, destined to become one with it, grow grass and soon disappear without even a tombstone to be remembered by. He remembered this and how he had mumbled, "You were a lot more trouble than you were worth, you know? Always destroying everything and wasting money. Always complaining. You were nothing but a thug, weren't you? From the day I met you, you were always the same. Never made any strives to improve, never did anything. Just slept or complained. That's all you did."

He didn't cry.

At least, that's what he told anyone who asked.

The tank had been filled without his notice. He shook himself out of his memory and removed the nozzle. As he returned the cap to its proper place, he remembered the following days from the funeral.

Faye had slept in Spike's room for a month, and when she was awake, she spent most of the time at the foot of his bed, knees pulled up to her chest, sometimes talking to him as if he was there, sometimes completely silent. Despite the fact that he was obviously gone, Jet himself found it hard to believe. Spike's ghost lingered in every part of the Bebop. His cigarette smoke, his shadow lounging on the mustard colored couch, his voice echoing "Yo," against the walls whenever Jet stepped into a room… Hell, he'd see his strange, moss-colored hair in the leaves of his bonsai trees.

There was one difference though… that aching loneliness that hung over the Bebop like a cloud. Neither ever seemed to be happy again after Spike got himself killed over an old grudge and a dead woman. Maybe it was just bitterness that had settled into their bones when they realized the game they had been playing had been lost.

But when Faye brought that boy onto the ship… her face was brighter than he remembered seeing in a long time. All the wrinkles around her mouth and eyes seemed to have vanished.

Sure, the boy's personality was tremendously different from their old friend (at least so far), but the resemblance was nearly uncanny. He had those same long limbs and broad shoulders. He smiled the same lopsided smile. His eyes were the same color brown. Even his voice had a similar "whatever happens, happens" lilt to it. It wasn't any wonder why she'd had him come back with her.

It probably wasn't healthy to replace a memory with a new person. Faye would most likely end up hurting the boy with her form of therapy, but Jet barely knew the boy and honestly didn't care at the moment. Faye and he were all the other had, and if someone had to suffer a little so that they could be happy, he felt that he had the right to be a little selfish. He'd been selfless for so long and nothing good had come of it.

He had returned the Hammerhead to the recently fueled up Bebop by this point and looked over the ships. Everything had been refueled except for the Swordfish II. He had no need to fill it. It still had fuel in it from over ten years ago. No one had driven it since Spike died, except for Jet, of course, flying it back to the ship.

Jet patted its faded paintjob affectionately. He'd kept it up all these years, just in case the lunkhead reappeared in the doorway, acting as though he'd never left. "I know you want to fly again," he spoke to the ship as if it was a person, "but it just isn't my place."

Jet's meager savings plus the money Faye had snagged off that bounty were enough to make a difference in their eating situation. While they were at the grocery store, Faye even started eyeing some beef.

"What are you looking at?" Max asked, peering over her shoulder.

"I think we have enough for this, right?" She looked at him, and he checked the basket full of food. He stared at it for a long time before looking up.

"With tax… you'll go over by two Woolongs, but if you put back the large vegetable oil bottle and replace it with a medium sized one, you should be okay."

Faye stared at him for a moment. "You're good with numbers, aren't you?"

"I guess." There was a nonchalance to his voice that seemed ever so slightly suspicious, but she didn't question it.

"Well, do that," She replied, handing him the bottle, and he obediently wandered off to find it. He had his other hand in his back pocket.

She looked back to the meat and picked it up, placing it in the basket. She was looking forward to dinner that night. If there was one thing Jet could do, it was that he could cook. Everything had been plain and flavorless most of the time, but frankly, they couldn't afford the spices. She made sure to pick up some of those. Cheese too. And she'd made a stop at the liquor store and picked up a bottle of wine. It hadn't been on the list, but she figured she'd splurge a little bit since she'd caught the guy.

That was when Maxwell reappeared, walking briskly with the vegetable oil, smile missing. He grabbed her wrist sharply and dragged her to the empty check-out line. "Hey, now, what's the big deal?" Faye asked, wrenching her wrist away from him.

"Nothing," He replied, not looking at her. "Just felt like we needed to get back soon." He physically tensed and turned his face away completely.

Faye glanced over her shoulder to see a tall, bald man in dark purple shades, dressed in an all black suit except for his purple tie. He was sporting a silver lip ring and heading straight towards the man selling cigarettes. Before she could get a good look at him, she was pulled away and out into the parking lot. Max was carrying both bags of groceries in one arm and staring at the street. Faye could barely keep up with his pace.

"Hey, what the hell? Let go of me! What's the rush?"

"Nothing! I just want to get back to the ship, get something to eat is all. That's all."

Faye glared at him, not willing to let it go. "Bullshit. Who was that guy?"

"What guy? I didn't see any guy."

Faye glared at Max. Max grinned back sheepishly before shoving one of the bags of groceries into her arms.

As soon as the groceries were put away, Max leaped over the railing and took up residence in his spot on the couch. "Mission accomplished," He exhaled, all too willing to settle in for a nap.

"No, no, mission not accomplished, not yet," Faye complained, thumping him on the head. "You can't fool me. Who was that guy back at the grocery store, huh? Tell me!"

He pouted, digging a cigarette out of his pocket. "I honestly have no idea what you're talking about. What guy?"

She leaned over the side of the couch, locking eyes with him. "You know, the bald guy with the purple sunglasses. You flinched when you saw him. You were scared of him."

"I wasn't scared of him."

They stared at each other until Faye could no longer stand looking at his eyes. She shouted, punched the couch and turned away. "Agh! You are so annoying, you little brat! God… you're just like him, never saying anything, always leaving everyone guessing!"

Max's face peeked up from the couch now. "Just like who?"

Faye looked back at him, realizing what she had said. "Well… tell me who baldy is, and I'll tell you what you want to know."

He shrugged. "I didn't want to know all that badly anyways."

Before Faye could retort, Jet entered. "All fueled up," he said, spinning his keys around one finger.

"Excellent," Max replied, blowing smoke rings in the air.

"I thought I told you not to smoke!" Jet growled.

"No, you said that I shouldn't smoke, not that I am not allowed," Max responded, laughing slightly. "I mean, I've been puffing on these things since I was like… nine."

Jet took his cigarette anyway. "So, run into any problems shopping?"

Faye looked at Max, and the boy's expression was unreadable. As tempted as she was to tell Jet about the bald man… it felt almost like her own mystery to solve. If she told Jet that Max was keeping secrets, it was quite possible that the boy would be kicked to the curb.

"Nope," Max replied before she could say anything. "Everything was smooth sailing. Did you expect any less?"

"Yeah, a lot less, actually."

Faye glared at the boy but didn't let Jet see. Max didn't seem phased.

He was unbreakable, apparently. She'd need to work harder to see if she could prove that theory true or not. Too bad Faye wasn't the type to do much work.


	3. Little Beast

Three: Little Beast

"_And fear is not respect, correct,_

_But it's the best you're gonna get_

_Sharp blow to the bridge of the nose_

_Sharp blow and anything goes"_

_- Elbow_

Dinner for the next two days was amazing. Faye believed that five star restaurants didn't have food as good as their meals, even though she knew it was just her gratefulness talking. The only one who seemed more appreciative was Maxwell who ate as if he'd never had a meal in his life, slurping his drinks and soups and piling too much food into his mouth. Jet scolded him just about every ten minutes for his terrible table manners, even though neither of the adults' manners were much better.

Unfortunately, by the end of the week, the delicious meals had become meager again, and it was time to hunt more seriously. Faye always hated working, but when meals were on the line, her enthusiasm was much better. That afternoon, she and Max clambered into her Red Tail and zoomed off in search of King (or anyone else they could find).

"So, Max, how good is your aim?" Faye asked.

"Awesome."

"So it sucks?"

He pouted from the back seat, blowing hair out of his eyes only for it to fall back the way it was. "No, I really am a good shot. I can hit a bull's-eye on a dartboard from like… a mile away."

It was a lie. She saw it in his eyes.

"Whatever, kid… So, what have I taught you so far?"

"Don't trust anyone."

"That's right. Lesson number two is this, so pay attention. Dead bounty heads don't pay. Never shoot to kill, only to injure."

"I understand… but what if the only way to keep them from killing you, you have to kill them?"

"Don't let yourself get into a situation like that."

"But… what if I do?"

She stared at him in her rearview mirror. "If you do?… Figure out what's more important to you, your life or your pay."

"O-oh…"

She nodded, digging her sunglasses out of the glove box.

"Hey, Faye?"

"Hmm?"

"Who's Spike?"

She dropped her shades. "Wh… where'd you hear about Spike?"

"I just noticed that you and Jet seem to mention this Spike guy on occasion… You know, usually when I'm not in the room. Is it some kind of secret?"

"N… no… He's just… He's no one. He used to live on the Bebop with us, and he was a lazy, stupid bum, and now he's gone and out of our hair and no one is happier than me."

"Oh," He replied, shrugging. "That's too bad. In my head, I imagined he was some kind of really cool guy."

"Not even close. He wasn't even handsome."

"So, ugly, stupid, and lazy, huh? Then why do you guys sound so sad when you talk about him?"

Faye's heart panged. She'd gotten so used to the sadness around Spike and everything that reminded her of him, she had forgotten about it. "Oh, well, we just felt so sorry for him for being so ugly, stupid, and lazy."

"Whatever," Max laughed, lounging in his seat. "I bet he was cool. You just don't want to tell me because you guys were jealous of how cool he was."

She smiled in spite of herself. Max had that effect on her. Over the course of the week, she'd barely gone anywhere without the boy, and she honestly just loved his company. Max was a lot more pleasant than Jet, and she didn't feel quite so bitter and irritable when the boy was around. She felt that maybe he restored some of her youth. She discovered he had a little bit of Edward in him too, with his random, crazy ideas, usually involving something silly and fun like pranking Jet. On Wednesday, they took all of his bonsai trees and hid them around the ship. Friday afternoon, they replaced his liquor with bath water. Needless to say, Faye loved him.

Jet hated him.

Something wasn't right about the boy, that was for sure. In the short time that Jet had known Maxwell, he'd come to this conclusion. Despite his childish games, Jet thought the boy seemed… older than he was. His naivety seemed forced at times. He had questionable scars all over, and there was no way a boy got that many scars from playing with other children. He'd also been far too interested in getting off of Mars (which they still had yet to leave from).

And then there was one morning that he had failed to tell Faye about, mainly because of her affection for the boy.

Jet had gotten up early one morning after having a bad night's sleep and slipped into the main room. The boy was still sleeping on the couch, since he had no room to give him that didn't belong to Spike. The kid appeared to have fallen asleep without intending to, since Jet discovered him with his shoes still on. Innocently enough, Jet figured that he'd be more comfortable with them off, and knelt down to pull them off.

Before he could even get the end of the shoe over his heel, Max was up, and Jet was staring down the barrel of his gun.

As soon as Max realized that it was Jet, he put it away, stunned and somewhat embarrassed. "Oh… I…" He stammered.

Jet would have said more if he could have allowed himself to let go of the breath he held as he realized how long it had been since he'd come face to face with a pistol. Max deflected immediately, asking Jet what was for breakfast, and neither of them had spoken of it since.

Jet snipped a branch off of his bonsai tree.

What kind of fourteen year old would be so on edge that he could pull a gun on someone that quickly just for touching his shoes? It was that question that led him to other ones, like… Why the hell did he even have a gun? How much of what he had told them was true?

It just didn't sit right with Jet. He began to worry that in the end, Faye's therapy would end up with her being hurt, rather than the boy… but at this point, he really didn't know what action to take. After all, the possibility that he was just paranoid kept creeping up the back of his neck into his brain. The boy was orphaned and had lived on the streets, at least according to him… Perhaps it was all completely true. Mars was a rough place to live for poor folks, and a child like Maxwell was all too easy to fall into a difficult lifestyle…

…and that was even more unsettling.

Faye and Max stepped into the shady bar, The Rock 'n Roll Judas, which Faye thought was a terrible name for a bar. There was so much smoke in the air that it was difficult to discern one person from another, and the dim lighting only hindered their eyesight more. There were tables packed in the place like sardines with a long bar on the right wall. In the back left corner, there was a stage with a piano and a microphone, both currently unoccupied.

"Man, it's hard to see anything in this mess," Max whispered, elbowing Faye lightly. "How are we supposed to find him here?"

"Hey, keep in mind, if we can hardly see him, then he can hardly see us."

"Good point. You sure are smart, Faye," He gave her a large grin, showing her his missing tooth.

She shoved him with her hand on his face. "You're a brat. Don't even think I didn't hear your sarcasm in that comment."

He hooked an arm in hers and braved the smoke and crowds until they reached two bar stools and took a seat.

The bartender was an obese man, bald, missing teeth, and all around hideous. He had, however, a rather joyful countenance, and Faye couldn't decide if it made him better or worse looking. "How can I help you two today?"

Faye glanced at Max, about to tell him to explain what they were searching for, when the bartender exclaimed, "Well, well, look who it is! Didn't expect to ever see you in here again, Max-y, my boy!"

Max gave the bartender the same grin he'd just given Faye and shook his hand. "Good to see you again, Mr. Vander."

Faye glared at her companion, waiting for an explanation. He didn't mention his association with the place… He didn't even act like he'd ever been inside. She couldn't tell if this was for some real reason, or if he was just screwing with her for fun. If he was as much like Spike as she thought he was, it could be either reason.

"Who's this dame you got with you, Max-y? Girlfriend?"

"I appreciate that you think I'm capable of achieving such a thing, but no," Max replied, leaning his cheek on his fist. "This is Faye Valentine, and she'll eat your heart out if given the chance."

Mr. Vander chuckled at the response and shook Faye's hand too. "So, what brings you back to this part of town? I thought you were running off to find greener pastures."

"Gotta have green to get to greener pastures, Mr. V…" Max made direct eye-contact with the man, a smile just twitching on his lips. "I'm looking for a guy. King's his name. Hear a rumor he might be in this general area, and since you don't get better service at a bar than this place, I thought maybe you'd seen him?"

"King… King…" He paused and stared up at the ceiling fan that was doing no more than swirling the hot air in circles. "Actually, y'know, I do believe I remember a King fella'. Blonde guy, not bad lookin'. He's been comin' here every afternoon with some guys. They always sit at the back table by the piano. These guys are pretty big and tough-lookin'. I imagined he must have some problems if he has to hang out with guys like that."

"Excellent, my friend," Max's smile spread a bit. "You have a time frame for this occurrence?"

Faye was beginning to feel left out. Maxwell gathering information almost expertly. It appeared to her that he must have had plenty of friends in the slums of Mars. She wasn't exactly sure if that was a good thing or a bad one. Either way, she felt like he was the rookie, and he was supposed to act like it.

"Probably around three to five o'clock. It's never the exact same time."

"Mind if we hang out here until they come in?"

"Are you gonna stir up trouble?"

"Naturally."

"Just don't break anything. You break it, you bought it, you got it?"

"Yes, sir."

After a little small talk, Mr. Vander left them alone so that he could tend to his other customers, leaving Faye and Maxwell with beers on the house.

"Doesn't exactly check I.D. here, does he?" Faye mumbled, taking a swig. It was warm and rather vile, but she'd never been a big fan of beer anyway.

"Not for me, he doesn't. He used to let me come in and play piano for tips back when I was younger," He explained, and Faye couldn't help but laugh internally at the way he talked, as if he was an adult, "and me and the guys would get drinks at the end of the night when the place closed down before going about our business."

"The guys?" Faye questioned. "Who were these… guys?"

Max's eyes grew to the size of saucers, as though he'd realized he'd let something slip that he shouldn't. "The… guys… You know… my friends."

"Where are these guys now?" She asked.

He shrugged, turned away, and took a long swig out of the beer he'd been given. He couldn't hide the very slight tremble in his legs, even though he tried to by bouncing it impatiently. She dismissed it for now, deciding a better time to question him would be when they weren't surrounded by people and trying to keep an eye out for someone.

"So you play piano, huh?"

"Uh, yeah," He looked back at her, over his shoulder, refusing to make direct eye contact with her. "Nothin' too special. Some blues and jazz improvisations and whatnot, but I can't read music. It impresses the ladies on occasion, but it's not anything to write home about."

"Ah… I see…" Faye said, taking another gulp from her bottle. Each sip was just as vile as the last, but she was getting used to it. The fact that it was free was enough to make it taste better.

She thought with a bit of intrigue that she'd been right about Maxwell's fingers being for playing the piano, but lingering on the idea of playing started saddening her after a moment. In her restored memories, she'd discovered her first boyfriend had been a piano player. They were only fourteen then, and he'd written a song for her, and she'd swooned over him for nearly three months. They fell apart and broke up, just as most fourteen-year-olds did with their significant others, and she had cried as if she would never love again. She remembered distinctly how awkward it had been when they had choir class together after their break up, and how they had seldom spoken to each other after that. She regretted that…

She regretted a lot of things about that time.

The two of them sat there in silence for awhile, people-watching and occasionally checking the clock on the wall. Faye's eyes started tracing the scars on Maxwell's arm, and she slowly began to register that there were quite a few of them… a lot more than there should have been, she thought, but as reckless as he was, not improbable. There was also something questionable about Mr. Vander. Something… shady… His friendliness was less and less comfortable the longer she was around him. Just as she was about to try questioning the young boy about their history, he turned and said quietly, "He's here."

In entered King, looking as royal as his name with the bodyguards and gems on his fingers. When he wasn't running in terror, he cleaned up rather nicely, she admitted. His vision was hidden by a pair of dark sunglasses which surely made it impossible for him to see in the bar. Fortunate, for the two of them, at least.

"So, what do we do now, Faye?" Max whispered over her shoulder.

"Wait… don't make a move yet, okay?"

"Right…"

King took his seat at the table Vander has specified and ordered a round for him and his cronies.

"You said you practiced martial arts, right?" Faye asked Max.

"Yeah. I could beat the crap of the other kids at the orphanage, and most of the ones I wanted to feed dirt to were bigger and older than me."

"So, you're pretty good then."

"Yeah."

She didn't hold much faith in that. "Well, I just needed to be sure you could defend yourself if you were to lose your gun, that's all. Think you can distract the body guards long enough for me to get my hands on King?"

"Without a doubt," He said confidently.

"Do it, then."

He nodded, got to his feet, and shook out his limbs and hair. He snagged her sunglasses out of the front of her jacket as he moved, putting them on and approaching the table as casual as possible. His stride was confident, hands in his pockets, and she could almost see Spike silently approaching and sending a roundhouse kick into the first one to glance in his direction.

Max wasn't nearly so subtle.

He grabbed an empty chair, lifted it, and slammed it hard against one of the bodyguards' heads before any of them could even look up. As the one recovered, the other two leaped to their feet and pursued him.

Maxwell almost immediately took off running, climbing onto tables whether they were occupied or not, knocking over glasses and other people as he tried to escape.

"Kill him! Make sure of it!" King ordered, obviously recognizing him from before. Faye made a note as she sneaked up behind him that Max needed new clothes, and maybe a haircut if they intended to be stealthy in the future.

Max did a swan dive for the stage and landed with a roll underneath the piano. Just as one of the bodyguards made their way towards his hiding place to most likely choke the living daylights out of him, a gunshot resounded through the bar, sending innocent patrons scattering like cockroaches and the pursuer crashing down onto a table with a bloody hole in his chest.

With one dazed and the other injured, if not dead, there was only one bodyguard left to distract, and he was currently just trying to stay out of Max's firing range. She saw him ducked under the piano, sunglasses up on his head, gun pointed outwards. His face had lost any kind of humor, and his eyes had gone dark with the gravity of his situation.

Maybe he wasn't such a rookie after all…

"What the hell is the matter with you?" King shouted, losing his cool countenance. "Kill him, you idiot! He's a stupid brat! I hired you to protect me! What the fuck?"

He was so distracted that he didn't notice Faye approach from behind him. She was about to place her pistol to the back of his head and tell him to come quietly when another gunshot rang out through the room, and she felt the bullet just graze passed her hair. It was enough to momentarily rattle her.

The unharmed bodyguard had spotted her, aimed, and fired, but something had stopped him from making a good shot, and that something was Maxwell. He'd slithered from his hiding spot and attacked the man like a rabid animal, biting and clawing and punching and kicking in a most ungraceful fashion. Max managed to scratch and wound the man rather well before the man took hold of him and threw him like rag doll over one of the tables. Beer bottles and glasses shattered underneath Max's body, and he tumbled ungracefully to the floor in a bruised, bloody heap.

Faye had fired her Glock at the bodyguard before he could lay another hand on the boy, blasting through his temple with an alarming accuracy she wasn't even aware she had…

His beat up, thin form, there… on the ground… looked way too much like…

She slammed King against the wall, pressing the barrel of her gun against his back. "I've got you now. It'd be best if you came quietly."

Behind her, she heard Maxwell shifting, meaning that he was okay. It was relieving.

"Aw… fuck…" He grumbled, getting to his feet and dusting the glass off of his now ripped shirt and pants. "Yo, Vander!"

The bartender had stood and watched the events with alarming calm, as though these sorts of events were typical in his bar. He almost seemed to be getting some sort of sick thrill out of it. "What's up, Max-y?"

"Put all the damages on Mr. King's tab. After all, he's the one who caused all the trouble, right?"

King was sobbing as the police dragged him away. Max had made sure to dig all of his money out of his wallet and hand it over to the bartender before the cops had arrived, and now he and Faye stood outside, squinting in the bright sunlight.

Max's wounds had clotted, and the blood had started to dry to his skin. His wounds were not nearly as bad as they had first seemed. It appeared that Max knew just how to turn his body to avoid major injury. It wasn't his scratches and bumps that disturbed Faye… It was that far off, glassy look in his eyes, as though there was a storm brewing inside of him… or… no, that wasn't accurate. It looked like…

He seemed just as beast-like as he had in the bar, as though he was ready to scratch and claw his way through anything and everything. His naivety had been wiped off of him for the moment, no shred of it even hanging off of his shoulders… and it was now she realized that there was something animal-like in him from the beginning. He wasn't a lost puppy, but he was certainly a stray.

She was beginning to wonder if his resemblance to Spike was merely physical… or if perhaps trouble followed along behind him in the same way it followed the bounty hunter.

"Max… are… you okay?" She asked hesitantly, almost afraid he'd snarl and bite he seemed so vicious.

_Vicious._

She remembered how much she hated that word.

And suddenly his curtain fell, and he was back to the same old Max she'd gotten used to. "I'll mend!" He grinned.

She didn't say another word, and they traveled back to the Bebop with their earnings in silence.


	4. Unguided

Four: Unguided

_In every story, every secret told_

_You are not the first to wake up_

_To learn your lines before you have the part_

_You woke up early and you woke up torn_

_You're the temporary boarder_

_The heat wave humming in the house of cards_

_- The New Pornographers_

"What the hell happened to you?"

Jet hadn't asked it out of shock. He sounded more irritated than anything. Faye was pretty sure that he expected that Maxwell's wounds came with a bill, just like Spike's usually did. In fact, she was positive of it when his voice lost its bite after he realized that he didn't have to pay damages.

"We won the fight," Maxwell assured him as Jet ordered him to remove his shirt in order to treat his wounds.

Faye sat on the yellow couch, sucking on a cigarette and staring into space. The money seemed so pointless, and she felt so dirty. Sure, she'd had to shoot to kill people in the past, but there was something unsettling about the entire fight that it didn't even feel like a victory. She'd been having so much fun with Maxwell that she had failed to see that there were other parts to him, other layers buried underneath his surface, some of them not as friendly and innocent.

Also, it turned out he hadn't been lying about what a good shot he was. So what _was _the lie in his eyes that she had seen?

"Owwwww!" Maxwell howled, knocking her out of her stupor.

Jet was cleaning Max's wounds, and apparently he disapproved. The disinfectant always did sting, but the removal of glass probably hurt just as bad. "If you didn't jump every time, it wouldn't hurt so much," Jet grumbled.

"I can't help it… it hurts!"

Faye wondered how bad it really hurt to him. Her eyes were lingering on a spot over his bottom rib that looked a lot like a scar from a stray bullet.

After quite a bit of complaints from both parties, Jet managed to clean and bandage up all of Maxwell's wounds. While he wasn't quite at the mummy status Spike usually was after a big fight, he still didn't look well.

"So, Jet, do you think you could fix my shirt?… and my pants? They're all scraped up like me, and I don't have anything else to wear."

"We can get you some new clothes," Jet replied, a grin forming on his face when he remembered the earnings. "Great job today, both of you."

"Well, gee, thanks, Jet, but… I'll need something to wear until then," Max mentioned. "Aren't we leaving Mars?"

"Just wander around in your underwear for all I care," Jet replied with a shrug. "Hell knows that Faye does it enough."

"Sounds like something I could get into," He teased, winking over his shoulder at Faye. She didn't respond. He shrugged it off, apparently figuring she was just tired. "Ah, I'm sure I'll think of something."

It had been a few hours before Faye managed to confront Jet about the brawl in the bar. He was piloting the Bebop, lit only by the computer screens that cast a ghostly pale blue light onto everything in the vicinity, and he was alone.

"Jet…" She started and bit her lip when he jumped. "S-sorry. Didn't mean to scare you."

He turned and was about to retort that he wasn't afraid when he stopped himself. Faye had that look on her face, the one she always got when something was wrong. Her voice was vulnerable like it had been whenever they would discuss Spike, or on the occasion that she would actually bring up her past. He had a feeling that this conversation was about something else.

"What's up, Faye?" He asked, trying not to sound as concerned as he was.

"It's… nothing really…" She said, taking a seat over by the shogi board that Spike and Jet used to play on (Jet with quite a bit more enthusiasm). "It's just… Max, you know… He's…"

"Did something happen today at the bar?"

Jet always knew to get right to the point, or Faye would very likely chicken out and dismiss it.

She looked at Jet, held his gaze for a long time, and he couldn't help but take in how pretty she was. She'd just gotten out of the shower and hadn't put on her make-up, was dressed just in what appeared to be gym shorts and a t-shirt. When she wasn't trying so hard to look youthful and sexy with red lipstick and revealing clothes, she was quite the classic beauty. She was the kind of girl Jet could fall in love with, if it wasn't for her personality. Alisa had reminded him on their last encounter that he was the type who enjoyed a woman that he could take care of. Faye probably wouldn't mind being taken care of if she wasn't so boldly independent.

Of course, by independent, he meant stubborn… and she was never interested in him anyways.

"Well?" He pressed.

"Something was… different about him. He was rabid, crazy… He was so angry, Jet! It was like he was a completely different person." She broke her gaze from him, studying the shogi board to occupy herself.

"Well, Faye, can you say that honestly he was a different person?" Jet suggested. "After all, he's only been here for a little while. We don't really know anything about him."

"Yeah, I know that Jet," She responded, growing irritable as she dug a cigarette out of the pocket of her shorts. She placed it between her lips and turned her eyes back to Jet. "Got a light?"

He put the Bebop in auto-pilot, crossed the room, and lit her cigarette before taking a seat across from her. "Faye, I know why you brought him here."

"Yeah," Faye said with a slight smile. "It's the same reason you let him stay."

The two of them sat there for a moment, awkward, even after ten years of living together.

"Well, right now, we can't really decide on anything," Jet finally decided to say. "Let's just keep our eyes open right now and make a move if we have to, all right?"

"Yeah, I guess," Faye shrugged, blowing smoke into the air. She tried to make smoke rings but failed.

"No need for us to jump to conclusions after all. The Max that you know could be true. He grew up on the streets of Mars, so of course he'd be tough in battle!" And the two of them started laughing in agreement.

"That's totally true. I don't know what I was thinking!" Faye exclaimed, though he could hear the doubt in her voice. "I mean, you can be pretty ruthless in a fight and you're a bleeding heart show!"

"Exactly!" Jet replied, but then made a mistake. "I mean, Spike was-"

The laughing ceased. Everything ceased. A long, heavy silence followed.

"I… I'm going to get something to eat," Faye said, breaking the silence.

"Uh, yeah… I'll cook us something."

Maxwell was building a card tower when the two bounty hunters entered, humming a few bars to "On the Road Again" as he did so. He was in nothing but a pair of boxer shorts, plain black like his clothes, and tube socks.

"Hey, guys!" He greeted, setting his final card on the top.

"Looks like you've been keeping busy," Faye yawned, plopping into a chair.

He looked at her, his eyes smiling. "Think of any card."

She paused, and skeptically responded, "All right, I've got one. Why?"

He smashed his hand down on the card tower, toppling it completely before lifting up the Queen of Hearts. "Is this your card?"

It took her a moment to register it, and when she did, she pushed herself up. "Whoa, hey, how did you…"

"You know the Queen of Hearts is always your best bet," He replied, winking, and started gathering the cards up.

Faye heard the stir fry kick up from the kitchen. When she turned to where Jet had been before, she realized that he'd left them alone.

Max was shoving the cards back into the pack. He didn't seem to notice how awkward the silence was.

"So…" Faye started, trying to break the tension in the air, though she was pretty sure she was the only one who felt it.

"Where are we headed anyway?" Max asked.

"Huh? Oh… Venus, why?"

"Just curious. Jet doesn't go over any details with me, so I'm kind of left wondering. You'll tell me lots of stuff though, so I don't feel left out."

"So, if I tell you all sorts of stuff, why don't you tell me anything?"

"Because it allows me to be all mysterious and stuff. It adds to my charm and also allows for no one to see what's coming from me," He responded smugly, pushing his hair back behind his ears only for it to fall right back into place, but not before she noticed the mark over his previously hidden left brow.

"What's that mark over your eyebrow?"

"Just another scar. I have a lot of those, in case you didn't notice," He replied, completely lacking concern as he lounged on the couch.

"Looks like someone tried to bash in your head with a hammer," Faye remarked as nonchalantly as possible.

"Actually, it was the end of a gun. I've been hit with those so many times, by you as well, I might add."

"So, why'd the person who gave you the scar hit you?"

"I was trying to take their bounty head," He responded without missing a beat, and then he laughed.

"I fail to see your mysterious charm, dear Max," Faye responded sarcastically.

"No need to be so annoyed, Faye," He replied, rolling over onto his stomach. "What's the matter? Did I do something to piss you off?"

She hesitated, wondering if she should bring it up, and she wanted to, but Jet had told her it was best to leave it alone. For the moment, she decided that Jet was right. "No, I'm fine… I just… need to take a shower." She stood, stretched, knowing that he was watching her like a wolf while she did so, and left. "Come get me when dinner's ready."

"Okay!"

Jet was nearly done with dinner when he started hearing something bizarre… Silence.

Something was definitely going on.

His fears were realized when he stepped into the main room and found that Faye and Max were missing. "H-hello?" He called out, even though he knew they were gone. He grumbled deep in his throat, returned to the kitchen, turned the stove down, and went hunting for them.

It didn't take long for him to realize that the shower was running, and at first he was mortified that Faye and Max might have been in there _together_… not because he was interested in her, of course, but the fact that Max was very much a minor, and that kind of behavior was not to be tolerated on his ship. However, a few more steps down the hall, and he was relieved to find another door open…

Only to be mortified again when he realized that it was the door to Spike's room.

Jet was so angry he couldn't speak, couldn't make a sound except breathing heavily out of his nose when he saw the mop of blonde hair peering under the bed. Faye was allowed in the room, Jet himself was allowed in the room (though he never went in), but not him. Not. Him.

"What are you doing in here?" Jet asked, voice so low in his throat that he didn't recognize it right away.

Max shivered and turned. "Oh… hey, Jet…" He mumbled, paling slightly when he saw how angry he was.

Jet couldn't respond for another few moments, eyes lingering on the pale yellow shirt the boy had draped around his shoulders. He'd even rolled up the sleeves… "I never said you were allowed to come in here. This room is off limits."

"…but… you didn't say that before. You don't have to get so ma-"

"GET OUT!"

Max jumped back as though he'd touched something burning hot. "I… I'm sorry-"

"I SAID GO!" Jet's voice rose in volume to a whole new level, but he didn't linger there when he saw Max's hand immediately go his pistol that he'd been stashing in the side of his boxer shorts since he didn't have his pants. Max had moved as though he had no consciousness of it, and while he hadn't pointed it at Jet, his finger was already lingering over the trigger. "Get out…" Jet rumbled more quietly, and Max shifted positions, dropping his hands, and shuffled out as though he had done some great wrong.

Jet didn't care. He didn't care that Max didn't know the room was off limits. He didn't care that yelling at him was unnecessary. He didn't _care_ that he'd hurt the boy's feelings, scared him, or anything. It was Spike's room. Even though Spike had spent very little time in the room, it was still _his room_. Max had no right to disturb anything there.

He sat down on the side of the bed and just sat there for a long time, staring at the wall. There was a poster of the Bruce Lee movie, _Enter the Dragon _on the wall, now faded and starting to rip. Jet had asked Spike once if he'd ever seen the movie.

"Yeah, three times," He'd responded with a smile.

Jet wished the memory made him feel better, but it just made him feel worse. If he had been a weaker man, or perhaps a stronger man, he would have broken down into a teary mess right there… but he just sat there.

"Yo…"

Jet's heart nearly leaped from his chest, but he only saw Maxwell when he looked to the doorway.

"I… I'm sorry. I didn't know that I was… Anyway, I suppose you want me to um…" He awkwardly held out the shirt he had taken to Jet, toes just outside the door of the room. "Since I'm not allowed in here, I'll just drop it here on the floor, and you can pick it up later, okay?"

Jet watched as the shirt crumpled to the floor, watched as Max stood there staring at it too. "Hey, kid," He said, just as the boy was turning to leave.

Max glanced back, and he looked different than Jet had seen him before. He didn't look so old, so tough, so lackadaisical, so Spike-like… He just looked like a little kid who had been scolded… He looked… so young.

"Kid, I… I'm sorry. For yelling at you, I mean. You're right. You didn't know, but from now on, you're not allowed in here, all right?"

Jet stood and picked up the shirt, gripping it tightly in his hands for a long moment. He remembered how many times he'd have to wash Spike's signature yellow shirt. He had had four or five of them, along with blue suits to match, but now… this was the only one left.

"Jet?"

Max's voice pulled Jet out of his reverie once again, and he hung the shirt up and put it back on the rack in the closet. "Let's go get something to eat, shall we? Oh, and another thing…"

Jet made a small distance between him and the boy before finishing his sentence.

"What?" Max asked.

"Stop carrying that gun around with you all over the ship. Keep it in your boxers like that and you might accidentally blow off your dick."

Max yelped, turning as white as a ghost as he imagined such a thing, and immediately removed the bun from the elastic waistband of his shorts.

When Faye entered the main room, the two boys were already eating.

"Hey!" She complained, back to her old self. "What the hell? You started without me?"

"We left you a plate," Max indicated, pointing with his chopsticks to the uneaten meal on the table.

"When'd you guys become so friendly with each other?" She grumbled, not ready to get over it yet. "Something happen while I was in the shower?"

"We bonded over how much we love watching you in the shower," Max responded, and Jet nearly choked from the laughter that sprung forth from the both of them afterwards.

"Jackasses," Faye hissed, taking a rather undignified bite.

"I'm just kidding, you know," Max elbowed her playfully.

She stuck her tongue out at him.

"So, Jet, who are we going after on Venus? I've never been to Venus before. It sound exciting."

"Nothin' big," Jet replied. "It's a drug mule worth quite a few Woolongs though."

"A drug mule?"

"Yeah," Jet said. "We don't know much about him, but sources say that he might work for a syndicate. He's trafficking some pretty heavy stuff too."

"Red eye?" Faye asked.

"Don't know," Jet replied. "His name's Soleil Acadia, but apparently his associates call him Ben."

"Why Ben?" Faye questioned. "That doesn't sound anything like Soleil Acadia."

"I don't know," Jet responded, slightly irritated. "You can ask him after we catch him."

Neither of them noticed Maxwell going extremely quiet as they talked.

They did notice, however, when they were woken up in the middle of the night by the Bebop being bombarded by asteroids, forcing them to make an emergency landing on Earth.


	5. Lazybones

Five: Lazybones

"_Just an ordinary guy_

_Shoes have got holes, and my hopes are high_

_I've got to say, though I'm confused,_

_Well everyone that I pass seems so amused"_

_- The Fratellis_

"Hey, good morning!" Faye greeted, leaning over the edge of the ship with a cup of coffee.

Jet was repairing a ding in the side, one of many he had fixed that morning. He glared up at her. "Yeah, good morning to you," He said angrily. "Did you sleep well when you went back to bed instead of trying to help me?"

"Yeah," Faye replied, grinning as she plopped down on the edge, kicking her legs off the side. "Don't know what you expected me to do."

"Well, I spent a couple of hours working on the navigation, but I can't figure out the problem." Jet came to Faye's side, grumbling all the way. "I think it must have malfunctioned before we hit the asteroids. In fact, I think that's why it happened."

"So, we're stuck on Earth until we can fix navigation then."

"Yeah… and I don't know if we can afford to hire someone to fix it. We're already low on funds."

"Yeah," Faye replied, sipping at her coffee. "Also, there's some Woolongs missing from the safe."

"What? How many?" Jet bellowed, face turning pink with his rage.

"Only about 500."

"Oh… well, that's not that much… but… Where the hell did it go?" His anger cooled, but only slightly.

"Oh, yeah," Faye replied, finishing the last of her coffee. "Max is gone too."

"What?"

The heat on Earth was impressive, Maxwell thought as he treaded towards town in his ripped up clothes and his jacket over his head. He'd filched Faye's sunglasses from the coffee table while she'd been in bed, but they didn't help the heat.

"Guess that's what you get when you're closer to the sun," He said to himself as the town came into view. He used the hand he wasn't holding his jacket with to fiddle with the Woolongs in his pocket.

The town wasn't particularly large, but everyone was already busy at work or whatever they were doing. Maxwell's first step was to stop in a discount store and get some clothes.

"Yo," He greeted the shopkeeper as he stepped inside. The air conditioning was soothing on his skin. He could already feel a little sunburn.

"How can I help you today, sir?" The woman asked, stroking the back of the cat perched on the counter. Its eyes stared right through Maxwell.

"I need some new clothes. Preferably in black, if you have them."

"I'll see what I have. Wait here for a moment please."

Maxwell nodded, and the woman disappeared among the racks of clothes and shelves of knick-knacks. He dug in his jacket pocket for a cigarette only to find an empty pack instead. "Guess I know where my next stop is."

"How about this?" The woman asked, reappearing with a pair of black jeans (faded to a bit of a gray color) and a black t-shirt. "Only 20 Woolongs. I have a nice jacket too that would look splendid on you as well. It's only 30."

"This'll be fine," Max replied. "Mind if I try it on first though?"

The lady pointed to a curtained-off area at the back of the store. "Dressing rooms are over there, honey."

He took the clothes from her and gave her a smile before vanishing behind the curtain. His limbs were sore from the wounds he'd endured the day before, though they had thankfully stopped bleeding so he didn't look like he just left the hospital. He did however still feel the ache and still grunted when removing his shirt, just as he had putting it on.

The new clothing was comfortable, definitely, and fit just as his other clothes had, with his pants being just a bit too short. He wasn't going to get a better deal on the clothes, seeing as how this new pair of pants only had a hole in the right knee. He in fact marveled at himself in the mirror when he put them on, reveling in the fact that he didn't have to wear the same smelly outfit he had been wearing. He was also very pleased with how the outfit altered his look, if only just a little.

"I'll take them," He said, exiting the dressing room. "Can I get a bag for my other clothes?"

Back out in town, Maxwell wandered for awhile, taking in the sights before he made a stop at a gas station/auto shop. The convenience store was open, but there wasn't anyone inside, so Max rounded the building until he found a mechanic sitting outside in a lawn chair, waiting for business.

"Hey, who's running the store?" He asked, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"What do you need?" The mechanic asked. He was a dirty old codger, dressed in the typical mechanic's jumpsuit in pale blue denim and a matching hat to hide what was surely a bald head. One of his eyes was missing.

"Cigarettes," Maxwell replied with a shrug of his shoulders.

The man eyed him with the only eye he had. "You're not old enough to buy cigarettes."

"Bummer. What if I gave you the money, and you bought them for me?" Max offered teasingly. The old man wheezed with laughter.

"Good one, kid. Come on, get out of the heat for a minute." He led Maxwell inside the auto repair shop, still wheezing a bit and wobbling a lot. "I ain't got any business coming my way, so you and I can have a smoke."

Max was ogling the mono-racers. "Cool… these are repair jobs of yours?"

"Yep. They're already finished. The guys are gonna come pick them up later today. I repainted them so that they can be raced."

"Do they race around here?"

"The preliminaries take place out in the desert. The finals take place in an arena in the city."

The old man took a seat under the ceiling fan in another lawn chair pulled up to a table with a chess game set out on it, only half played. "Damn it… I just do not know where to move from here…"

Max finally turned his attention away from the racers. "Chess, huh? You just play it by yourself?"

"No, no, I have someone to play with, but damned if I don't get beat every time. This game has been going on for days, I tell you."

"I don't know how to play… I mean, I could probably figure it out, but I'm not really a think before I act kind of guy," Max said, staring at the board as if trying to help find the next move. The mechanic offered Max a cigarette, and he accepted it gratefully. "So, is this all you smoke, or do you have a little grass as well?"

"I wouldn't know where you could get some grass," The old man laughed. "I'm sure there's some place around here. You should ask my stow away."

"Druggie?" Max questioned.

"I guess. I don't know what's up with that kid. Somewhere out in space, that's for sure."

"So, your stowaway lives here, in the auto place? That's a weird place to live, not that I have any room to talk."

"Wandered in one day out of the blue with a couple'a dogs. Fixes computers really good, so I let them stay."

"Where is this stowaway?"

"Back there, in the storage closet. You can go talk, and I'll get you some cigarettes. It's gonna be about 8.5 Woolongs."

Max handed him the Woolongs and made his way to the closet. As soon as he opened the door, he was bombarded with the smell of dog.

There were a few dogs, a black-and-white Great Dane, a Basset Hound, and a Chihuahua, but probably the most noticeable one was the old Corgi, fat and gray and lazily curled up in the corner. He perked his head up when Max entered, gave him a long glance, and laid back down.

"Hello?" Max called. "Any humans here?"

"Nope, it's just us tomatoes!" A voice sang, and something shifted from underneath a pile of tires. First came a computer, followed by a head attached to what seemed to be a body, though it moved not like any human Max had ever seen.

By the time the character had stood (and it apparently required a flip), Max found himself speechless. He couldn't tell if the person was a male or female being that he or she was skinnier than he was. Something in him said 'girl' but it was probably just that the voice was still quite high pitched.

She had tanned skin, as though she had been wandering the world for years, and her rough, bare feet only added to this fantasy. Her bright red hair, so red it almost didn't seem possible, was cropped short on her head, two cowlicks on each side of her head pointing upwards as though they were cat ears. Her eyes were even more feline, her smile reaching up across her freckled cheeks to an unbelievably wide grin. Her limbs were noodle-like, moving almost of their own free will. She had a pair of goggles around her neck and was dressed in a baggy tank top that buttoned down the front over a black sport's bra, and a pair of black spandex shorts.

"How can Edward help you?" She asked, taking a bow.

Faye grumbled as she crawled into her Red Tail. "Why do I have to go find him, huh? You guys never went looking for me when I left! Can't we just wait for him to come back?"

"He's not you, Faye. He might have taken the money and run off."

"His bag's still here, and he's not stupid enough to only take some of the money when all of it is available. It's not like you can do anything to fix the navigation. At least come with me! I'll find the kid, and you can find someone to fix the ship."

Jet glared at her, silent. She was pretty sure he was offended over her assumption that he couldn't fix the ship, even though he'd basically told her the same thing a couple of hours ago. Either that, or he didn't want to admit that the last of their money would have to go towards repairs rather than food, and Spike wasn't even around to be blamed for it (even though it was usually his fault back then). The worst part was that they were in the middle of nowhere and unlikely to find a good bounty to help them out if they couldn't afford the repairs.

"Fine, but we're taking my Hammerhead. You need to save your fuel."

"Whatever," Faye hopped out. "So, we just head into town and see what we can find, huh? Maybe we can stop at a diner and get some breakfast."

"Don't joke about that when you know we can't afford it," Jet grumbled, starting up the Hammerhead. "You'll just make yourself hungry."

Faye shrugged.

Edward, who was apparently a girl, had told Maxwell that she was over a thousand years old and that Ein, the Corgi, was her ex-lover cursed to live the life of a dog after biting a witch's ankles. She had then proceeded to lead him to the grass he so desired, only for the two of them (plus Ein, whom Edward was carrying) standing outside a plant nursery fifteen minutes later.

"There is grass, weeds, and pots here," Edward explained.

"Not… exactly what I had in mind…" He replied, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Edward and Ein like to look at the flowers. Ein likes daisies, but Edward likes Venus Fly Traps!" Edward exclaimed, clapping her hands together like they were the jaws of said plant. Ein wiggled out of Edward's arms, made a circle around her feet and waddled inside.

"So… you're telling me that someone like you isn't…" Maxwell stared at Ed for a moment and then shook his head. "Nevermind…"

"Edward will wait here for Max while he goes and gets the grass and weeds and pots he desires."

This woman was older than him… It was something he had to keep repeating to himself.

As he entered the store, he was feeling rather annoyed, thinking that he wouldn't be getting anything out of the situation other than a vase that was somehow perfect for him. His opinion changed when he saw… her.

Long straight brown hair, bright green eyes, innocent façade hiding a longing to be a little more wild… She was leaning over Ein, patting his head. "Hello, Ein, where's Edward today, hmm? Or is she Francois today?"

"Actually," Max laid on his best charm, "he's with me today."

He could have sworn he saw the dog roll his eyes, but it must have been his imagination.

"Hello, can I help you?" The girl asked, rising to her full height. She was short.

"Perhaps…" He approached her casually, hands shoved in his pockets. "I live in a spaceship, so I was hoping to find something to bring a little… color to it."

"A space ship?" She asked excitedly. Naivety.

"Yeah. I'm a bounty hunter," He replied, tossing his hair a bit. "My name's Maxwell."

"Oh, really? That's so glamorous! You get to travel all over the universe?"

"You betcha. I just came here from Mars, you know."

"Wow… I hear Mars is amazing…" Her eyes were lit with stars as she lapped up everything he was feeding her. Of course, he wasn't necessarily lying, per se, but…

"It really is. Mars is the land of opportunity, after all. So, what's your name?"

"Angela."

"What a pretty name," He smiled, leaning against the wall. "I bet your boyfriend calls you Angie, doesn't he?"

"Oh, I don't have a boyfriend."

"Really? A pretty thing like you? That should be against the law," He laughed, and she giggled.

"You're too nice, Mr. Maxwell… um, is there anything in particular you're looking for? Flower-wise…"

"What do you suggest?"

"Well, I like sunflowers best of all, but they would need a lot of light."

"Show me them."

He placed his arm around her shoulder and allowed her to lead him away. As he turned away, he knew for a fact that that dog was rolling his eyes at him.

Jet stretched when he'd hopped out of the Hammerhead, pushing each shoulder up to his ears and back down again. "It feels good to get out of the ship," He offered.

Faye ignored him, taking a long drag on the cigarette she had just lit up. "So, where do we start looking?"

"I'm going to find a repair shop. You can ask around until you get his trail."

"Jeez, now I feel like we're hunting him like a bounty head… I gotta be honest, Jet, it's a little surprising to me that you even care to go after him instead of tossing his crap out of the ship and cutting your losses." She didn't turn to look at him, but she couldn't hide the hint of a smile she had.

Jet was silent for a moment, and Faye knew him well enough to know that he was choosing his words carefully. "I… that is… I don't like anyone walking out on me with my stuff."

"You let me leave."

"You always come back, Faye."

"Yeah, well, you never knew if it was the last time," She replied, growing irritated. "Don't assume I'll always come back!"

They knew the threat was just as empty as ever, but Jet apologized regardless. "Well… I guess you could say that my curiosity got the best of me when it comes to that kid. I wanna know what's going on inside his skull."

"I thought you were a dog, not a cat," Faye teased. "Though… I guess I know what you mean. Something is…"

"I know."

"…but I am kind of happy that we're not just getting rid of him. I worry when he's by himself," Faye smiled subtly. Jet was about to say something when she tacked on in embarrassment, "I mean, he's as reckless and stupid as a certain other lunkhead I used to know! Think of all the damages we'd have to pay for!"

Jet would have laughed if the statement hadn't been completely true. They both wordlessly decided they needed to find him as soon as possible.

"I'll check with the mechanic in town to see how much he charges," Jet said, starting forward with Faye trailing along behind. "This isn't a huge town, so I'm sure Max won't be hard to find. You know how to reach me if you need me."

"Same here," Faye said, and parted ways with him.

She hadn't wanted to admit to Jet that she still liked Max quite a lot, even if it seemed that he had grown on the old dog as well. It wasn't easy to explain how she liked him and yet didn't trust him. One of her returned memories had been of her father telling her that there is no love without trust… Maybe there wasn't… but was the ability to like someone without trusting them possible? And it wasn't that she thought he was completely untrustworthy… just secretive… and…

"Oh… all of this is starting to give me a headache," She complained, digging her last cigarette out of her shirt as she dropped the one she had finished off onto the ground and stomped on it. After a trip into a discount store, she'd caught scent of Maxwell's trail, and after a call from Jet, claiming that he had gone off to the flower shop with the mechanics helper, she knew just where to look.

Faye was in such a hurry to find him that she didn't notice the odd red-head sitting outside the store in the bushes, pretending to be a flower.

Inside, Faye felt like she had stepped into some sort of safari. She had never been that comfortable in nature, considering herself more of an indoor girl (indoor meaning casinos and bars). She didn't really see the romance behind flowers or why girls went ga-ga over them. Guys paid so much money for them only for them to inevitably die a slow death. It was really kind of morbid.

She turned a corner, passing baskets of little blue flowers and vases of daffodils and was convinced that he must have already left when she heard giggling by the sunflowers… behind them, really.

Faye parted the flowers with her hands and stared down at the very preoccupied couple, one of them with a familiar blonde mop of hair.

Apparently the romance of flowers was not lost on Maxwell.

"So sorry to interrupt your face-sucking, Max, dear," Faye mocked sweetness as she took a handful of blonde hair, "but is your little girlfriend here aware of the fact that you're only fourteen?"

The girl underneath him looked mortified. Maxwell's face was only slightly less so. "F-Faye?" Maxwell stammered. "How did you- What are you-"

"You told me you were eighteen, you jackass!" Angela howled, crying out of humiliation and nailed one hard kick to his groin as Faye started to drag him away.

He winced and, with a crack of his voice said, "What can I say? I like… older women…" He moaned in pain the rest of the way out of the nursery.

"I can't believe you," Faye complained as soon as they got outside. "You're a disgusting little brat, you know that? That girl could have gotten in huge trouble because of you! Did you even know her name?"

"Yes," Max replied flatly. "Sorry, _mom_, but I don't see what the big deal is. I was just having a little fun."

"You can complain all you want, but if you remember, Jet put me in charge of you! I'm gonna be the one in trouble because of you!" Faye retorted, twisting his hair in her fist.

"Oh, sorry, I should have called you _big sister_, then. Tattle tail."

"What are you, four years old?" Faye threw him down, dust kicking up from the ground as his shoulders collided with it. "You stole money from the safe and ran off! You're lucky when didn't just toss your shit out into the desert and leave without you!"

Maxwell laughed. "Whatever. You can't leave with the Bebop stranded here. Navigation is shot."

"Well, we're gonna fix it and-" Faye paused and stared at Maxwell until he started squirming. "How did you know the navigation was broken?"

"We headed into an asteroid field and had to land on Earth. Navigation is clearly not working," He responded quickly, almost so quickly that it seemed rehearsed. She was about to question him but decided that Jet would do a better job with his cop background.

"Let's just go back. You'd better hope that Jet doesn't chop you up and use you for fertilizer for his bonsai trees."

Max was getting to his feet, dusting himself off. "I was just buying some new clothes and some cigarettes," He grumbled.

"Yeah, well-" Faye's sentence was cut short when she realized that her left leg could barely move… as if it was heavier than before. "What?" She glanced downward to see what the problem was, and her eyes widened.

"Faye-Faye…." Edward cooed, nuzzling Faye's knee with her cheek.

"EDWARD?"

Ein barked.


	6. How Much it Hurts

Six: How Much it Hurts

"_Oh, you say there's nothing wrong with being proud_

_So tell me what you love and say it loud_

_Now here's the dose that you've been dishing out_

_If you're listening, this is how much it hurts"_

_- John Mayer_

Faye would have liked to say that she was surprised that Edward was no less weird than she had been last time they met, but she wasn't. Had Edward been normal, Faye probably wouldn't have known what to do with herself. The only thing that surprised her was that Ein was still alive. She'd always expected to eventually run into the hacker child again, but after ten years, Ein was getting old. He showed it too, overweight and gray… and yet, he still remembered her, probably with contempt for all of those times she ate his food.

For a long time, she just stood there, staring down at the leg Edward had slithered herself onto. Finally, after a moment of silence that had drug on for far too long, Maxwell cut in. "So, you… know this person, Faye?"

"Edward and Faye-Faye used to work on them cattle trails! Yee-haw!" Edward exclaimed in a southern accent, releasing Faye's leg and rolling across the dirt like a tumbleweed.

Faye translated, "She lived with us on the ship. She helped us catch bounties years ago, back when she was a kid."

"Ein too!" Edward added, lifting the fat corgi into her arms. He barked in agreement.

"Oh… I… understand… I think," Maxwell replied, eyeing Ed suspiciously.

Faye clapped Max on the back. "Well, come on, let's go show Jet our little discovery. Maybe he'll be so happy to see Ed that he'll forget about being mad at you."

"There's no real reason for him to be mad at me, considering I didn't do anything."

"You stole money from the safe, dumbass. I thought I made that clear."

"Hooligan!" Edward cheered, dancing around Maxwell.

"I only took my share," He defended.

Ein barked and followed Edward for a few circles around Max before getting tired and deciding against it.

"Edward lives here with Mr. Mechanic," Edward explained.

Maxwell was already smoking a cigarette from his new pack, smiling lazily. Jet was stunned by what could have only been fate that brought everyone together. The odds that Edward of all people would not only be in the only town for miles that they happened to land near, but living in the very place that they had to go to was next to impossible. Considering how fate so rarely smiled on them made the event even weirder. It seemed that Max was constantly revealing himself as the key to their past, but that made him sound far too important.

"Pretty crazy, right Jet?" Max spoke Jet's thoughts aloud. "I was just lookin' to score some cigarettes, and I run into your… daughter or niece or whatever."

"She's not-" Jet started, but found it pointless since Edward had thrown her arms around his neck and squealed 'Papaaaaaa' like he'd once directed her to do long ago. Besides, he'd acted more fatherly to her than her actual father, as far as he was concerned, and he rather liked the idea…

…Admittedly, the children he'd imagined wouldn't have been nearly as bizarre.

"She's my assistant," The mechanic, who Edward deemed 'Jonesy' even though his last name was just Jones, explained as he took a seat and lit up his own cigarette. "She's better at working on computers than I am. Those things keep getting more and more advanced, and I think soon I won't understand them at all."

"Well, how convenient," Jet said, eyes alight with stars over this piece of information. "See, our ship's navigation has some issues, and-"

"Edward still expects payment, Jet-person. No exceptioooooonnnnssss," Edward sang, taking a seat opposite Jonesy and making a move on the chessboard without even looking at it.

Jet's hope faded away along with the stars in his eyes. Maxwell could have laughed at how he pouted had he not already been walking on eggshells around him to avoid being yelled at. Jet was scary when he was upset, which he'd come to realize just yesterday. "What, we can't get some sort of discount?"

"Ein's food doesn't go buy-buy itself," Edward replied, smacking her goggles over her eyes and disappearing into her 'room'. "Neither does Google's or Scheherazade's." She was referring to the other dogs.

"But what about our history?" Jet offered weakly, knowing it was pretty much hopeless.

Edward's head peeked out from the doorway, as if she was thinking about it, but just when Jet thought he was going to get what he wanted, instead she replied with, "Edward doesn't like History. Edward prefers… SCIIIIEEEEEEENNNNCEEEEEE!" She exclaimed, burst into a hysterical fit and danced back into her room, possibly to do some sort of mad science.

Jet sighed, defeated.

"You should have expected that kind of answer," Faye told him, patting him sympathetically on the shoulder.

Edward returned from her room, a tool belt around her waste and a computer on her head. "Edward will still take a look at it," She explained, "then Edward can give you an assessment and accurate price range."

"Why don't you go ahead and do that," Jonesy told her, staring at the chessboard with a look of defeat similar to Jet's. "I'll cook us up some grubb, all right?"

"Allllllll righty then!" Edward responded, leaning at a nearly impossible angle and knocking over his king. "Checkmate!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know."

There wasn't enough room in Jet's ship to drive everyone, so Edward took her yellow Vespa. There was a basket tied on the front for Ein to sit in, and somehow she'd calibrated it to go faster by attaching what could only be described as rockets to the back of it. Everyone was a bit disturbed by it, though not surprised, considering it was Edward.

"This chick is insane," Maxwell laughed from his cramped, uncomfortable spot in Faye's lap.

"I'll say," Faye responded flatly, more uncomfortable than Max with his gangly limbs squashed into her space. "Couldn't you have hitched a ride with her?"

"No way. She's crazy enough on foot."

"Good point."

"By the way, Max," Jet mentioned, smiling dangerously. The poor boy didn't notice, but Faye did. "Those new clothes you got?"

"Yep."

"You bought them?"

"Uh-huh."

"With the money you stole?" His smile disappeared, and he glared at him through the mirror.

Max sputtered a bit, tried to escape, remembered they were crammed into a tiny mono-racer and were currently in the air, and gave up. "I wasn't stealing. I just took my share so I could buy some new clothes."

"All the money in the safe is my share," Jet replied flatly. "I put your share on your card, just like Faye's."

Max's face flushed with embarrassment. "Oh…" He said. "Well… um… you can take money off of my card then. That makes things fair, right?"

"S-sure," Jet responded awkwardly, not sure how to respond to someone on his crew being 'fair'. "I'll do that later."

Faye wasn't as easily caught off guard as Jet. She knew that Jet would most likely forget all about it within the next few hours, especially with Edward and Ein back in their lives. She'd make sure to remind Jet about it whenever she could.

Jet had taken a seat in what he liked to call the "Captain's Chair" (though only in his head; never out loud lest he be teased for the rest of his life), and Faye was watching with mild interest from her usual spot in the cockpit. Maxwell had vanished somewhere as soon as they'd gotten back to the Bebop, possibly in order to avoid Jet's wrath. At least Ein had gone with him, so he was being watched.

Edward was digging around inside the navigation programming with a wrench and a screwdriver and a slew of other tools. "Wasn't hacked into, no no," She explained, via song.

"Well, what was it?"

"Saaaaaboooo-taaaaaagggggooooooooo," Edward responded, head popping up from the panel. "There's yer problem," She had switched to a southern accent again.

"What is it?" Faye asked, approaching a bit more closely.

Edward reached back into the panel and removed something, holding it up for all to see.

"A… a pocket knife?" Jet said, raising an eyebrow as Edward handed it to him. It was a nice blade, if not a bit worn.

"Yup, yup, yup," Edward replied. "It was jammed into the navigation system! Must have cheated on its husband. Hospital bill is gonna be an issue."

Faye looked over her shoulder, checking to see if the blonde boy was anywhere around. Edward didn't seem to notice how heavy the air had become since she'd figured out the problem. Faye and Jet both knew there was only one person who could have, who would have sabotaged their ship. He'd destroyed the navigation and jumped ship as soon as they'd landed.

"How much is it gonna cost to fix, Edward?" Jet asked, voice dark and quiet.

Faye didn't wait around to hear the price, disappearing through the doorway. A quick inspection of the living room revealed that Max wasn't around. Kitchen was empty, bathroom was vacant…

"Ein! Here, boy!" Faye called out, looking around the eerie silence for any sign of the corgi. Where Ein came from, she would look… that is, if he came when she called. Maybe she shouldn't have selfishly eaten his food.

She started strolling down the hallway, whistling for the old dog and clapping her hands. The thought crossed her mind that Ein might not even be able to hear anymore, considering he was so old. She checked her own bedroom and Jet's. No one was there. The storage room was empty.

Her heart dropped into her stomach.

"That son of a bitch," Faye hissed, approaching Spike's bedroom door and opening the door to find…

Nothing.

"Huh…" She mumbled, pouting. "Guess he's not in here." She turned briskly, assuming that she must have just missed him and went back to retrace her steps. The door shut with a loud slam.

After a moment, Spike's closet door slid open, and Max peeked out, still holding Ein against his chest with his hand clamped over the dog's jaw so that he couldn't bark. "I guess they found it," He mumbled, pale. "Man… I promised Jet I wouldn't come back in here, but I panicked. You get that, right?" He asked Ein, releasing his muzzle.

Ein bit his hand.

"**OWWWWWW!**"

It was unfortunate for Max that despite Ein's reservations about Faye, he was loyal to her because she was also loyal to Jet. He hopped out of the boy's arms as he gingerly held his hand with the other one, biting down hard on his bottom lip.

The door slammed open once again, and now Faye was standing there with Jet right behind her with his arms crossed.

"Uh… I chased the dog in here," Max lied. "I was trying to stop him."

Ein snorted, offended that Max thought he was dumb enough to do something like that.

Jet grabbed Maxwell harshly by the arm and dragged him out, and as they were marching down the hallway, he noticed Edward had skipped along behind the two older folks to see what was happening.

"WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT GOING IN THAT ROOM?" Jet bellowed.

"I… I'm sorry! I was-" Max stammered, feeling about his belt frantically for his gun, only to remember he'd left it in his jacket that was currently sitting on the coffee table in the living room. "I didn't mean-"

"That room is off limits! So is the cockpit from now on as well! I can't believe you sabotaged our ship! I should throw you out of here right now, but you owe us! You're going to earn every penny to fix our ship and pay me back for the money you stole, plus interest!" Jet was so angry that his face had started turning red, and his grip on Max's arm was so tight the boy knew he would have a bruise.

"But- Jet, I- Faye-" Max tried but no intelligible sentence would come to him.

"Why is that room off limits anyways?" Edward piped up, and all the struggling, all the noise, stopped.

Jet and Faye had forgotten that Edward had left before… She didn't know Spike was…

Maxwell had been handcuffed to the stairs for the moment to make sure he didn't try to make some kind of escape.

Edward was looking from one bounty hunter to the other, waiting for an answer. There was visible worry etched in her cat-like eyes. "That room belongs to Spike-person…" She concluded, as if she'd just realized that he wasn't present. "Where is Spike-person? Where is he?"

Jet looked to Faye now, who looked on the brink of tears and unable to breathe his name, much less speak. She'd lied to Maxwell about Spike, but she couldn't lie to Edward. Edward was too smart. She wouldn't believe her… All the same, it was next to impossible for Faye to admit it to herself.

"Edward," Jet said slowly.

"Edward wants to see Spike-person!" Edward whined, voice rising an octave along with her panic.

"He's… You can't see him, Edward," Jet said, the picture of calm composure, though there was a line of tears in each eye. "He's… He's dead."

Ein's ears perked up at this, and he stared disbelievingly, as though he understood what had been said.

Edward sat down, knees together, toes pointed at each other. "Spike-person can't die… He's a Mr. Tough Guy. Jet-person is mean. That's a bad joke." Her voice lost the octave, and suddenly the childishness of it was melting away from it as well. "Where is he really?"

"He's dead," Jet said again. "He went and got himself killed not long after you left."

Maxwell was just as shocked as Edward, considering he'd believed Faye more or less. He'd never expected Spike to be…

"Who killed him?" Edward asked, and it was as though a completely different person was suddenly sitting there next to Max.

"Vicious and The Red Dragon."

Max looked from Edward to Jet then, realizing Spike had been in the mob, another unexpected development for him. The worst part was that everything seemed so obvious now, and he felt stupid for not realizing it sooner. The way they held onto his things, the sadness in their voices when they talked about him, the changing of the subject whenever Max came into the room… He had to admit that he was pretty upset about it. He may not have been with Faye and Jet long, but in the short time they'd taken him in, he'd started to trust them, something he promised himself he'd never do with anyone ever again.

He seemed to be breaking a lot of promises lately.

He was knocked out of his thoughts when Edward suddenly shouted, "YOU'RE LYING!"

She was crying, and she kept appearing more and more human with every tear. Angela had referred to her as Francoise in the nursery, and he was beginning to see who Francoise was. Jet and Faye seemed to be watching this other person emerge from within their young compatriot as well, forgetting that Maxwell was even there.

Francoise was such a sad, lonely little girl.

Edward got up and ran out of the room, sobbing loudly, Ein chasing after her heels.

Silence followed.

Maxwell just stared at the two bounty hunters, waiting for them to say something, but they seemed to be as lost for words as he was.

"Um…" He finally started, trying to get the ball rolling before he died of awkwardness. It was such a shame that that was all he could think of to say.

Jet decided to break his own awkwardness by leaving the room. He may have gone to find Edward and Ein, may have just gone off to be by himself for awhile. There was no way to tell, and Max certainly couldn't follow him being handcuffed. Max was pretty sure he didn't want him around anyway.

He looked back at Faye, started to speak, but was immediately interrupted by a hard smack to the face.

"You sabotaged us. We gave you a place to live. We gave you food and utilities and a place to sleep, and you sabotaged us," Faye whimpered, voice too weak to have much bite. She didn't look angry so much as completely and utterly betrayed. She had a right to feel that way.

"I… I'm sorry," Max said quietly, sucking in a long breath. He thought he could really use a cigarette at that moment.

Faye was feeling the same way and dug one out of her shirt, lighting it with a trembling hand. "Why'd you do it?" She asked, voice gaining a bit more strength after a drag on the cigarette.

"I didn't want to go to Venus," He mumbled.

"Why?"

"…You wouldn't understand."

"What wouldn't I understand? Huh?" She took him by the collar of his shirt and forced him to look at her. "What wouldn't I-"

Max had set his jaw and tensed his entire body, as though every fiber of his being was fighting back the tears in his eyes. "YOU JUST WOULDN'T!" He shouted, causing her to take a step back. "I don't see why I should have to tell you anything! It's not as if you've told me any truths, Faye!"

All the squeak in his voice was gone. He sounded nearly identical to…

"I only… lied about him…" She mumbled, and Max's anger faded with the look on her face.

"Why?" He asked, trying to sound upset but failing.

"Because I didn't want to admit it to myself, okay?" She walked away from him at the point, as if she wasn't able to look at him anymore. "Jeez, when did this get turned around on me? You're the jackass who broke the ship…" She tacked on with a huff, sitting down on the couch with her back to him.

"Did you love him?"

"What?" She looked back.

"Spike. Were you in love with him?" Max asked.

Faye sighed again. "I… I don't know… I mean… I feel like I was, but… I don't know if I've ever loved anyone in my entire life. How am I supposed to know what my feelings for him were?"

Max shrugged as best as he could with his hands tied above his head.

"I mean… there was definitely something there," Faye offered, laying down on the couch. "I mean, this one time… Never mind."

"No, tell me. What?"

Faye sighed heavily, as if it was some kind of chore. "Well… it was a long time ago… Spike and I, we argued and fought all the time. It was our thing, I guess. I think he caught on that I liked him, but I never thought that he had any feelings for me. He was always hung up on this other girl… It's a long story… but… well, I like to take long showers, and that seemed to drive him up the wall, since he never got any hot water. One day, I guess he decided to turn the tables on me and would not come out of the bathroom. He was in the shower for what had to be over an hour when I started pounding on the door. I pounded on that door for ages, begging him to let me in, and he thought it was funny for awhile and then started getting annoyed and yelling back at me and stuff…" Her face started to warm a bit when she thought of it, and she felt like a teenager with her first crush again. It was embarrassing how sexually deprived she'd been that a story made her all hot and bothered.

"Go on. What happened after that?"

"He finally opened the door, but instead of stalking out all triumphant, but instead he pulled me inside and slammed the door shut. I have to admit I was kind of stunned, considering he was… well…"

"Naked?" Max teased, and it made her blush even heavier.

"You're such a child!" Faye complained. Maxwell chuckled.

"Go on. Seriously."

"Okay, he… It was weird. I mean, you have to understand what Spike was like. He wasn't… He wasn't a guy who was really forward with his feelings. Even if you knew him well, it was next to impossible to know what he was thinking. He seemed care-free all the time and never seemed to care about anyone too deeply, even though he actually did… I'm sure he did…"

Maxwell couldn't help but feel the description was somewhat familiar.

"Okay… so… what happened next?"

"I guess he did find me attractive, and I mean, I was pretty slammin' back in the day. I don't know… I guess he just got… He… Well, he kissed me."

Max didn't encourage her to continue for fear of it hurting her too much to keep going, but she'd already come this far, so she sat up and continued.

"He kissed me…" She repeated. "He kissed me, and I'd never felt a kiss like that before, you know? It wasn't full of love or tenderness, though it was hungry and had lust… but… I could taste his emotions, if that makes sense. He tasted so sad and broken-hearted and all kinds of bad feelings and good feelings… I could taste that I wasn't the one he wanted to kiss, or maybe I was, but he was transmitting someone else through me. Being so infatuated with him like I was, ugh… I can't believe this… but I was really happy. Shocked, but happy. I felt like my body had been let on fire, and all my breath had been taken away from me, and yet this was an amazing, wonderful feeling. For a moment, I didn't care about all the bitterness in my heart, all of the bad luck I'd experienced in my life, nothing. I was just happy to help relieve him of some of his own bitterness and bad luck…"

Max sat there silently, eyes slightly glassed over as he seemed to be imagining it. His face was slightly flushed.

"After that… It was just… over. He stopped, and pulled away, and I was left standing there numb from head to toe while he got dressed. He mumbled an apology and left the bathroom, and neither of us ever spoke of it again. I never even told Jet, I… never told anyone. Things just went on as normal, like it had never happened. I gotta say, for years I couldn't help but think I must have fabricated the whole thing in my head as some sort of weird fantasy…" She started laughing, but it was terribly depressed. Maxwell could still see her shoulders shaking after her laughing died away, and he wanted to go over and hug her, but…

"I'm… sorry about that…" Max said quietly, trying to adjust his wrists so the metal wasn't pushing into them with quite as much force. "That really sucks."

"I was the stupid one for getting my hopes up, even when I knew it meant nothing."

"I don't believe that."

Faye slowly shifted around to face him, and he saw her red eyes.

"Given," He said, "I don't know Spike very well or anything, but if he's anything like I think he is, I think… he liked you very much. I mean, I can never say for sure if he loved you, and that really sucks to say and hear, but… the least we can ask for from a person is for them to like us. People are selfish, naturally, so for them to show you affection well… it's contrary to their nature. It's a good thing… isn't it?"

"Doesn't sound like something a kid like you should know."

"For all I know, it could be a naïve lie."

She got up off the couch, wiping her eyes with her hands. "I can't let you go."

"I won't do anything bad anymore. I'm not going anywhere. I promise, and I mean it this time."

Faye tousled his hair. "Whatever, brat. You thought you had me. You thought that you could get me all weepy and convince me to let you go, but I won't be swayed. You're gonna earn back all of the money plus interest!" She tapped his nose with her finger. "You thief and little jerk. I feel no sympathy for you!"

He grinned. "I'll be good, Faye. I promise. You can kick my ass if I misbehave."

"Count on it."


	7. Our Little Boat

Seven: Our Little Boat

"_Lie with a smile in your eyes if you can_

_These are the things that will make you a man_

_Oh, how can I tell you how sorry I am?"_

_-Elbow_

Jet stared into the storage room for a long time, focusing on how he regretted stocking up on all the food and supplies before leaving Mars in order to not focus on his other problems. They had about 60,000 left in the safe… well, 59,500. Either way, it was going to cost at least 80,000 to fix navigation, and that didn't count for the money they would need afterwards to keep living. If they were to fail to catch a bounty on Venus, they'd be in major trouble…

He shook his head, reminding himself that since Maxwell was the one who broke the navigation, he'd be the one paying for it. They'd be fine… if he didn't tuck tail and run off. If he intended to get Max to earn the money, he'd eventually have to let him go, and after that, it'd be pretty easy for him to run away… Sure, it'd be one less mouth to feed (and a gluttonous one at that), but it just didn't feel right.

Nothing felt right.

Jet sighed dejectedly and finally shut the door to the store room, rolling his shoulders and making his way down the hall with no particular destination in mind. He was exhausted from everything that had taken place over the short period of time. He felt seven years older, and yet he was no wiser on what to do. He hated that he was the one everyone turned to because it was impossible to have the answers all the time, and yet everyone expected him to help them. He felt so pathetic. Even back in his cop days he'd been teased about always wanting to do too much and uphold justice.

"It was pretty dumb," He mumbled, leaning his back against the door. He stared at the ceiling for a long time, truly questioning if there was justice in the world when a good guy like Spike had to die, and a lost young girl like Edward had to cry over his ten years dead body, and a ten years older Faye still sobbing and heartsick, and he himself growing more and more bitter with every passing day…

There was a tug on the front of his shirt, and he glanced down to find Edward standing before him, looking ashamed and closed up into herself. "Jet-person…" She said in a tiny voice, brown fist clutching to his shirt tightly. "Ed is… sorry for calling Jet-person a bad joker liar person. It's not true. Jet-person is not a liar and often tells very funny jokes."

Jet placed his hand on the top of her head. "It's all right," He told her, hoping that he could soothe her pain by being there. "I wanted to tell you, you know, but I didn't know where you were."

"Maybe if Ed had stayed instead of going with the father person, Spike-person would have…"

"If a frog had wings, it wouldn't bump its ass when it hopped, Ed," Jet joked half-heartedly. "Don't think that I don't try to come up with something I could have done every day of my life, but Ed… there was no way to stop him, no way to save him. His battle with Vicious… it was bigger than all of us. There was no way we'd be able to understand or help."

"I guess so… but when Edward was left behind by the father person again, Ed really thought that leaving had been a bad, bad thing, and that Ed should have been punished."

Jet sighed again and stroked her hair. "You didn't deserve punishment. You didn't do a bad thing."

"Edward shouldn't have trusted father person to remember her. He was always forgetting about Edward… but Ed wanted to believe."

Jet could have cried, but he didn't. He just hugged her. "Well, don't worry. Everything will get better. Everything will be fine."

Ed smiled against his shoulder. "Jet-person is right… Edward isn't a worrier. Worrying is for businessmen!" She then began singing "Don't Worry, Be Happy" as he picked her up to carry her with him while he was checking up on things. She obviously wasn't going to let go of his neck right away. After checking the empty bathroom for the third time since he started his walk, Edward had finished singing, and piped up, "Hey, Jet-person?"

"Yeah?" He asked, putting her back on her feet.

"Edward has a secret."

"What is it?"

"Come clooooooosssseeeerrrrr," She giggled, and he leaned his ear up close to her mouth, playing along because not only did it make her feel better but him as well. "Promise to keep it between us?"

"Yeah…" He said hesitantly, a smile twitching on his lips.

"Okay…" She dramatically leaned in close, as if it was a matter of national security. "Here it goes…"

Jet waited, finding the whole thing rather ridiculous, but enjoying it more than he sometimes did.

"Edward loves Jet-person," She told him, giggling. "Jet-person is Edward's papa from now on."

And she burst into a hysterical fit of laughter out of excitement and went running off down the hall.

Jet just stood there, mouth open, eyes wide. He had to wipe a tear away before he laughed and mumbled jokingly to himself, "and yet she still won't give me a discount."

Maxwell breathed out through his nostrils, staring around the empty room. No one had come in since Faye had left, and he was convinced that they were avoiding the room on purpose in order to torture him.

A shift came from above and soon appeared Ein, the dog that blew his cover. "Well, well, look who it is," Max said flatly, and the dog looked at him condescendingly. "You know, you didn't have to bite me. I was just doing what I had to do to protect myself."

Ein stared back with a look that said, _well, maybe you shouldn't have kept your hand so close to my mouth. How's that for protecting yourself?_

Max wasn't sure what to think of the dog. "You know, if I didn't know better, I'd say you understood English."

Ein yawned, as if he was mocking him about how obvious it had been from the start. After all, Maxwell was talking to him as if he understood anyway.

"Well, you think you're a smart cookie, don't you!" Max exclaimed. "In fact, I bet you think you're smarter than me."

Ein responded by smiling, tongue lolling out of his mouth.

Max glared, scrunching up his nose. "Okay, Mr. Smart Puppy, either that was your way of laughing at me, or I made you hungry by mentioning the word cookie… or both… Well, prove to me how smart you are and release me from these handcuffs."

Ein didn't move.

"Okay, fine! Don't release me! But hey, your owner ain't gonna get paid if I can't get the money for it. No money equals no food for doggies!"

Ein's ears drooped as he realized that the human was right. He waddled over to the coffee table and grabbed the key in his mouth, made his way up the steps, and dropped the key into Max's chained hands. After a few minutes of struggling, Max finally managed to get the key in the hole and free himself.

"Excellent!" He cheered, rubbing his wrists. "Thanks, pooch."

Ein growled.

"I mean Ein."

He growled again, still unsatisfied.

"MR. Ein, jeez. Aren't you bossy!" He stuck his tongue out at the dog, but at least the animal seemed content. Max was grateful he didn't have to start referring to the corgi as a lord or something ridiculous like that.

Max stretched his limbs and sauntered over to his jacket where he dug out a much needed cigarette. After exhaling the smoke, he looked back at Ein.

"So, how do you think I should go about getting this money? Bounty hunting? Panhandling? Or maybe I should just sell my body," He laughed.

In rolled Edward, in a remarkable change of demeanor since she'd left the room. "Hóla, Señor Sabotage!" She greeted. "Looks like Ein let you go!" He was tempted to question how she knew that he and the dog had made a deal, but knowing how weird she was, and her familiarity with Ein, he decided against it.

Max shrugged. "Well, I've got myself a job to do. I need to earn some money to make it up to Jet and Faye. They're pretty pissed at me..."

"Well, duh!" Edward laughed, clambering onto the coffee table and turning on her computer before proceeding to type with her feet. She seemed to have taken a lot of time to practice doing so, since she appeared to have mastered the skill. "Jet-person and Faye-Faye hate vile betrayers, especially the ones who break stuff. Faye-Faye breaks stuff all the time, so she's like, "Oh well" but Jet-person talks about money and how he doesn't have it."

"Y… yeah, I caught that," Max mumbled, scratching the back of his neck. "I've been with them for a little while now, so…"

"It's okay. You obviously have some sort of redeeming quality, so Faye-Faye and Jet-person didn't throw you out and run over you with Bebop Bebop."

"Thanks for that image."

"No problemo!"

"I was being… never mind. Come on, Edward, you like me, don't you? Why don't you help me out?"

"Well, bounties are slim-pickings in this area, you know," Edward explained, snapping her goggles over her eyes. "Not gonna find 'em 'round here, nosirree."

Max sighed, laying down on the couch. "Yeah, I had a feeling you'd say something like that. Man… there's gotta be something that I can do… How much is it gonna cost to fix the navigation?"

"100,000 Woolongs," She replied casually. "Bebop Bebop got some real damage from Maximum."

"It's Maxwell… How am I supposed to make 100,000 Woolongs without a bounty head?"

"You could get a real job," Edward suggested, imitating Jet remarkably well.

"No one would hire someone like me," Max replied, "and even if they did, a job as a waiter or hard labor guy is chump change."

Edward hummed one long note, thinking for the entirety of it. "Well, hotshot, what about them races?"

"Race?" Max popped up. "You mean like the mono-racer races?"

Ed nodded. "Yup… if you win the final race you get 200,000 Woolongs, at least for the one in this area. Wee! Checkmate!"

Apparently she had been playing computer chess the entire time.

"That would be amazing," Max said, remembering the beautiful racers he'd come across in Jones's shop, "but I don't have a mono-racer… and even if I did, there's no way I could just get into the race. You have to work your way up through the circuit unless you're really good and get invited."

"Edward can put your name in the system."

"…what?"

"Ed can hack the system! Fight the machiiiiiiiiineeee!" She cheered, wobbling around on the table like a fish. "Radical Edward is the best hacker ever!"

Max's eyes lit up. "Excellent… Can you do that right now?"

Edward nodded, cracked her knuckles and set to work.

That only left one problem… a racer…

"Well, I guess I could always use Jet's Hammerhead, or Faye's Red Tail, even if they're not built for racing." He leaped over the couch and headed to the kitchen where the keys were. Jet and Faye were nowhere to found, unconcerned with their prisoner they thought was still imprisoned. He found the key rack easily, but the problem was which key was which.

Ein had tailed after Maxwell, still keeping guard of him. "Hm… which one… Maybe… this one?" Max asked the dog, holding one up. Ein barked. "I'll take that as a yes."

Ein's ears lowered. He hadn't meant yes at all. He'd meant to say "That's Spike's."

In the hangar, Max tried the key in Jet's Hammerhead. It didn't fit. After trying Faye's Red Tail for the same result, he pouted. "Huh… Shouldn't have trusted you," He said to Ein. "You're a dog. You don't know anything about mechanics and ships."

Ein glared at him. After all, it had been the human that had misunderstood, not Ein. He barked at him again as he hopped out of the Red Tail, and when he turned to shush him, that was when he saw it sitting in the back of the hangar.

"Hold up now… is that… is that a racer?" He approached it slowly, as though it was some kind of trap. In the dim light of the hangar, he'd never once noticed it there, but surely it must have been there the whole time… He always did find it weird to see an extra key hanging on the key rack.

Once he'd gotten close enough to it, he swore out loud. It wasn't just a racer, it was… THE racer. He'd heard of ships built in this style back in the old days, and like an old custom car, he'd always found these to be more appealing than the new brands. Sure, this racer wasn't exactly gorgeous with it's faded paintjob and several battle scars, but damn if it wasn't exactly what he was looking for.

Ein wanted to tell the human to back off before he got himself into more trouble than he already was in, but Max obviously didn't speak dog (considering he barely spoke English, it was hardly a surprise). Max spun the key on his finger, glancing back at the dog. "Moment of truth, Mr. Ein."

He popped open the Swordfish, hearing it hiss as the glass separated from the cockpit. He sat down in the worn seat and put the key in the ignition. It took a couple of turns, but it started up finally, sounding like a dream. "Oh, HELL YEAH!" Maxwell exclaimed over the roaring of the engine, seemingly forgetting about his silent prison break. "Man, listen to this baby! She's old, but she still sounds so sweet."

Ein maneuvered his way up into the cockpit and plopped down in the boy's lap. There was no way Max would be getting out of the ship, but he definitely wasn't going to let the boy fly off in it alone. Since he technically let him go, he knew he needed to keep guard of him so that his humans wouldn't get too upset.

Edward slipped into the hangar at that moment, cart-wheeling all the way to the Swordfish. "Howdy! Ed is all finished registering you, Mr. Maximum!" Her bizarrely large grin drifted off of her face once she took the ship in, and she stared at it with an unreadable expression for quite a few seconds.

"You didn't put me in there as Maximum, did you?" He asked nervously, noticing her expression but deciding it was for the best not to act on it.

"Maximum Lebowsky," She replied, retrieving her smile from somewhere within her head. "It's your alias!"

"Well, I'm not against using a pseudonym or anything, but I kind of wish you'd used a real sounding name."

"What's not real about it?" Ed asked. Considering the length of her name, he figured it could have been much worse.

"Well, I don't have any I.D. that says that," He offered. She proceeded to fish some papers out of her shirt and handed them to him. It was a full profile of false information, including a social security number.

"Papers, papers, papers for identification and verification."

Max studied the paper for a moment. "I guess if they ask, I can tell them my parents were junkies. Also, nice touch, claiming me to be nineteen. Think I can pull that off?"

"Are you a good liar?"

Maxwell smiled but didn't answer. If Ein could talk, he would have suggested that Maxwell wear a false moustache. That would have been hilarious.

"Well, then, Maximum is all set! Arrivederci!"

"Thanks, Ed!" Maxwell called as the glass closed over him. "Don't tell Jet or Faye!"

Ein settled in on Max's lap, determined to make sure he didn't go screwing thing up any worse than he had already seemed to. Jet had had so many stresses in his life that not too many more would likely stop his heart. He wouldn't want that to happen to Jet. Jet was dog's best friend, considering Edward was often off on some… bizarre tangent. He'd only gone with Edward because he'd known that she needed HIM, and not the other way around. Her father's (apparently genetic) flakiness would inevitably cause her to be left all alone again. She was often too absorbed in her strange little world to remember to eat or sleep, so all Ein had to do was remind her that he was hungry or that he was tired and it would allow her to act on her bodily limitations. He feared for her safety without him, so he befriended other dogs and explained the situation. As dogs are extremely loyal creatures, they agreed to back him up, and so far they had stood by their promise.

Now, now at this moment she was in the capable hands of Jet and the maybe not as capable but adequate hands of Faye, so he was taking care of this… BOY. He was stupid, and obviously reckless, the way he cut out of the hangar like a bat out of Hell. The light that burst from his eyes as he steadied the ship into the air was that of someone inexperienced and overly excited.

It was then that Ein realized that the boy was not only stealing Spike's ship… but that he'd never flown AT ALL.

Never had a dog regretted his loyalty so much.

Faye laid face-down into her pillow until she couldn't breathe and rolled over onto her back. She was still embarrassed over her admission to Maxwell about her and Spike's encounter. That little asshole would probably tell Jet, and Jet would set him free because of the quality of the blackmail!

She grumbled aloud, forcefully kicking her shoes off. "What the hell did he mean by 'I wouldn't understand' anyway? Brat. I can't believe he thought I'd let him go. Like I'd believe that 'I'll be good, Miss Faye' routine. As if!"

She sighed, realizing that she was talking to the air. She wondered what Spike would have said to her if he had been standing there. He probably would have laughed at her. He would have stood in that doorway and laughed at her because she was so pathetic.

"Jerk!" Faye shouted, throwing her pillow at imaginary Spike. It hit the door and fell to the ground.

It seemed whenever she was alone, she thought about Spike, and it just made her sad. She tried to take a nap for a few minutes but gave up when sleep wouldn't come and got up with a long stretch.

"Jet?" She practically whined. "Ed? Jesus, where the hell is everyone?"

She found Jet finally, standing in the living room.

"There you are," She said, starting to descend the steps, wondering why on earth he had that look on his face… and then she noticed it too. "Wait- where-"

"You let him go, Faye? Seriously?" Jet shouted, sounding not angry but stunned and so very confused.

"What? No! I didn't let him go!" Faye complained, finishing her descent down the steps in a couple of quick bounds. She came to stand next to Jet and stared at the empty place where the boy had been.

"Well, I didn't let him go, so it must have been you! I knew you liked him too much. I knew it was a bad idea to let him on our ship."

"But I didn't let him go!" Faye growled, punching Jet in the arm. "I bet you let him go, and you're trying to cover your tracks by blaming me. You were the one getting all buddy-buddy with him over dinner the other day."

"But you're the one who's 'buddy-buddy' with him all the time! You think I'd release him after what he did to the ship?"

"Well, I didn't think you would, but apparently you did because _I _didn't do it!"

"Well, if you didn't do it, then who did?"

A long moment of silence.

"Edward," They said simultaneously, before shouting, "EDWARD!"


End file.
